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A  STUDY  OF 

EDUCATIONAL  CONDITIONS 

IN  MEXICO 

AND  AN  APPEAL  FOR  AN 
INDEPENDENT  COLLEGE 


§^ 


CINCINNATI,  OHIO 

PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  COMMITTEE 

1916 


Copyright,  1916,  by 

The  Committee  for  the  Study  of  Educational 

Conditions  in  Mexico 


COMMITTEE 
FOR  THE  STUDY  OF  EDUCATIONAL 
CONDITIONS  IN  MEXICO 


Norman  Bridge 

Los  Angeles,  California 

Frank  J.  Goodnow 

Baltimore,  Maryland 

David  Starr  Jordan 

Palo  Alto,  California 

Harry  Pratt  Judson 

Chicago,  Illinois 

Henry  C.  King 

Oberlin,  Ohio 

Samuel  C.  Mitchell 

Newark,  Delaware 

John  Bassett  Moore 

New  York  City 

Arthur  W.  Page 

Long  Island,  New  York 

Theodore  H.  Price 

New  York  City 

Leo  S.  Rowe 

Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania 

George  B.  Win  ton 

Nashville,  Tennessee 

-Charles  William  Dabney,  Chairman 
Cincinnati,  Ohio 


359J12X 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

Foreword 5 

I.  Racial  Setting 7 

II.  The  Colonial  Period 17 

III.  Period  of  Political  Liberation 24 

IV.  Conditions  at  Beginning  of  Independence 27 

v.  Education  Under  the  Republic 32 

VI.  Developments  from  1821  to  1867 40 

VII.  Later  Phases — School  Organization 61 

VIII.  Additional  Topics 86 

Afterword 91 


FOREWORD 

IT  is  fair  to  say  that  everyone  wants  to  help  Mexico,  but 
that  no  one  at  present  knows  how  to  do  it.  We  can  not 
expect  to  help  her  effectually  until  we  first  understand  her 
history  and  institutions,  her  people  and  their  aspirations. 
What,  then,  does  the  history  of  Mexico  teach  us?  What  is 
the  meaning  of  the  series  of  revolutions  which  have  been  going 
on  in  that  country  for  the  last  hundred  years?  In  other 
words,  what  have  the  Mexicans  accomplished,  and  what  do 
they  now  want?  These  revolutions,  including  this  last  long  one, 
have  all,  at  bottom,  been  phases  of  a  blind,  misguided  struggle 
of  a  strong,  ignorant  people  for  liberty.  They  have  sprung 
from  a  desire  of  the  common  people  to  realize  the  benefits  of 
democracy.  They  have  been  a  struggle  against  a  feudal 
system  approaching  slavery.  They  were  chiefly,  although 
not  entirely,  the  strivings  of  an  oppressed  people  to  win  for 
themselves  and  their  children  a  small  place  upon  the  soil  of 
their  native  land. 

These  blind  efforts  have  failed  of  their  ends  largely  because 
the  people  have  been  without  learning  and  without  true  leaders. 
There  has  never  been  a  middle  class  in  Mexico  to  supply 
leaders  for  the  people  in  their  struggles  with  the  feudal  lords. 
Organized  public  opinion  is  the  only  basis  for  democratic 
government,  and  this  has  never  existed  in  Mexico.  The  only 
newspapers  are  controlled  by  the  Government,  by  the  land- 
lords, or  by  the  big  corporations.  There  are  no  real  political 
parties.  The  only  politics  are  wholly  personal,  and  the  only 
political  organizations  are  gangs  formed  to  advance  the  interests 
of  leaders  whose  names  they  bear.  There  are  no  political 
campaigns  to  educate  the  voters,  but  only  processions  and 
rallies  intended  to  impress  them.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  free 
political  discussion  of  any  kind.  Elections  in  Mexico,  con- 
sequently, are  either  farces  or  frauds. 

Organized  public  opinion  and  the  free  discussion  of  political 
affairs  so  necessary  to  free  government  can  not  exist  where  the 

5 


masses  of  the  people  are  ignorant.  The  only  solution  of  the 
Mexican  problem,  therefore,  will  be  the  establishment  of 
public  schools  which  will  educate  the  people  to  know  their 
rights,  and  of  colleges  to  train  men  to  help  them  in  their  strug- 
gles to  win  those  rights. 

In  the  belief  that  the  best  thing  the  friends  of  Mexico  can 

do  at  the  present  time  is  to  prepare  to  assist  her  in  educating 
her  people,  a  Committee  was  formed  a  year  ago  for  the  purpose 
of  studying  the  educational  conditions  and  needs  of  the  country. 
The  following  paper  was  prepared  under  the  direction  of  this 
Committee  by  George  B.  Winton  (now  of  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity, but  for  thirty  years  a  teacher  in  Mexico,)  with  some 
assistance  from  Professor*  Andres  Osuna,  formerly  superin- 
tendent of  schools  of  Coahuila  and  at  present  general  director 
of  primary,  normal,  and  preparatory  education  in  the  Federal 
District  of  Mexico.  Several  of  the  notes  were  contributed  bj^ 
Professor  Ezequiel  A.  Chavez,  formerly  President  of  the 
National  University  of  Mexico  and  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
Department  of  Public  Instruction.  We  are  indebted  to 
Professor  I.  J.  Cox,  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati,  for  revising 
the  material  thus  collected  and  contributing  additional  matter.  * 
For  those  who  can  not  read  the  whole  paper  at  once,  the 
chapter  summaries  and  "Afterword"  will,  we  hope,  prove 
helpful  in  giving  a  general  view  of  the  educational  conditions 
in  Mexico  and  our  recommendations  for  their  improvement. 

CHARLES  WILLIAM  DABNEY,  Chairman. 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  December  1,  1916. 


•Notes  contributed  by  Professor  Chavez  are  signed  "E.  A.  C";  those  by  Professor  Cox, 
[.  J.  C." 

6- 


I  —  RACIAL  SETTING 

Summary 

Conditions  in  Mexico  cannot  be  understood  without  a  study  of  ethnology. 
The  Nahua  peoples — Toltecs,  Chichimecs,  and  Aztecs — came  from  the  north 
by  the  west,  and  displaced  an  earlier  race,  perhaps  the  Mayas.  The  Nahua 
records  were  destroyed  by  the  Spaniards;  but  we  suppose  their  origin  to 
have  been  Asiatic.  They  are  oriental  in  type  of  mind  and  in  physique. 
The  Aztecs  were  the  leaders  for  only  a  century  or  two.  As  a  warlike  tribe 
they  developed  a  system  of  bloody  rehgious  rites.  It  was  not  really  typical, 
as  Mexicans  are  not  sanguinary  in  their  tastes.  The  line  between  "nobles" 
and  "plebeians"  was  the  most  noteworthy  social  phase  of  native  life.  Agri- 
culture flourished.  The  Conquest  introduced  new  racial  influences  and 
two  new  classes,  mestizos  and  Creoles.  The  Spanish  settlers  took  possession 
of  people  and  lands.  Education  was  left  to  the  Church.  Doubt  was 
entertained  at  first  whether  the  Indian  could  be  educated.  There  was  no 
attempt  at  education  by  the  Government.  The  Spanish  Crown  and  the 
superior  authorities  in  the  Church  made  provision  for  the  protection  of  the 
Indians.  These  measures  were  brought  to  naught  by  the  avarice  of  the 
colonists.  Repartimientos  and  encomiendas  were  intended  for  the  good  of 
the  natives,  but  resulted  only  in  their  oppression  and  the  enrichment  of 
the  colonists. 

ANY  study  of  educational  conditions  in  Mexico  must 
take  account  of  the  racial  history  of  the  Mexican 
people.  Not  only  is  that  history  without  a  parallel, 
but  there  is  no  phase  of  the  people's  life  that  does  not  throw 
"the  student  back  upon  the  extraordinary  intermingling  of 
race  currents  at  and  before  the  Conquest,  and  the  influence 
which  those  currents  have  exerted  upon  each  other  and  upon 
the  mass  during  the  succeeding  centuries.  The  ideals  and 
practices  for  the  training  of  the  young,  which  have  prevailed 
during  the  six  centuries  of  Mexico's  recorded  history,  have 
been  the  outgrowth  of  the  social,  military,  and  governmental 
standards  existing  first  among  the  native  tribes,  and  later 
modified  by  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards.  A  rapid  review  of 
these  racial  elements  and  tendencies  will  serve,  therefore,  to  give 
the  setting  for  our  examination  of  the  present  educational  status. 
The  Nahua  peoples,  who  displaced  an  earlier  stock — believed 
by  many  to  be  represented  now  by  the  Mayas  of  Yucatan  and 

7 


Central  America— -bad  L^en  in  possession  of  the  Mexican 
plateau,  according  to  their  own  records  and  estimates,  some 
six  or  seven  centuries  before  the  coming  of  the  Europeans. 
They  had  themselves  arrived  in  three  successive  migrations, 
or  had,  at  least,  been  dominated  by  three  successive  groups  or 
tribes — the  Toltecs,  the  Chichimecs,  and  the  Aztecs.  The 
Aztecs  were  in  power  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  Vigorous 
tribes  of  cognate  stock  lay  just  outside  the  sphere  of  their 
control — the  Tarascos,  the  Huastecs,  the  Mixtecs,  the  Zapotecs, 
and  others.* 

On  the  question  of  their  origin  a  word  or  two  may  be 
ventured.  While  the  elaborate  theories  and  speculations 
which  have  been  a  favorite  diversion  of  students  of  Mexican 
history  are  in  the  main  far  from  convincing,  one  must  allow 
that  there  is  much  in  the  way  of  justifiable  inference  pointing 
to  an  Asiatic  origin  for  these  peoples.  The  physical 
resemblance  which  is  still  marked  and  detailed,  is  re-enforced 
by  mental  and  spiritual  traits  suggesting,  let  us  say,  a  kinship 
between  the  Mexicans  and  the  people  of  Japan  or  of  China, 
rather  than  with  any  race  of  Europe,  f  It  is  scarcely  too  much 
to  say,  indeed,  that  one  outstanding  phase  of  Mexico's  long  and 
tragic  history,  has  been  the  inability  of  the  European  mind  to 
sound  the  distinctively  oriental  processes  of  Mexican  thinking. 
To  this  day  there  is  an  ever-present  menace  of  tragedy  in  the 
forced  contact  of  the  American  people,  intellectual  heirs  as 
they  are  of  Northern  Europe,  with  the  Mexicans,  whose 
aboriginal  orientalism  was  but  slightly  tinctured  by  contact 
with  Spain,  and  that  at  a  time  when  Spain  herself  had  for 
centuries  been  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Arab  schoolmasters.  The 
writer  of  these  lines  is  beset  by  daily  reminders,  spread  before 
us  in  the  pages  of  American  periodicals,  of  the  inabihty  of 
Americans  to  understand  Mexico  and  the  Mexicans.     It  is 

*The  statement  that  Toltecs,  Chichimecs,  Aztecs,  Tarascos,  Huastecs,  Mixtecs,  Zapotecs, 
and  others  were  tribes  of  cognate  stock  is,  perhaps,  questionable.  Distinguished  scholars 
have  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  term  "Chichimecs"  was  a  word  used  only  for  characterizing 
a  cultural  stage. — E.  A.  C. 

tThe  Japanese  and  Chinese  are  very  dissimilar  peoples,  considered  ethnically,  so  this  kin- 
ship can  be  suggested  merely  for  comparative  purposes.  There  is  absolutely  no  evidence  of 
any  direct  connection  between  either  the  Chinese  or  Japanese  and  the  Mexicans.  It  must 
be  noticed,  besides,  that  there  are  in  Mexico  many  ethnical  groups  of  different  Indians,  and 
that  to  this  day  the  mental  traits  of  all  of  them  are  a  subject  only  of  literary  discussion,  not  of 
scientific  definition. — E.  A.  C. 

8 


so  grotesque  that  it  is  comic,  yet  behind  the  mask  of  Comus 
grins  still  the  threat  of  tragedy. 

The  Mexicans  resemble  physically  the  Japanese.  They 
have  the  small  feet  and  hands,  the  long  bodies,  the  wide  faces 
and  prominent  cheek  bones,  which  mark  the  people  of  Nippon. 
Along  with  these  physical  resemblances  may  be  traced  moral 
likeness.  There  is  in  the  two  people  the  same  astounding 
indifference  to  death;  in  both  may  be  found  the  same  mixture 
of  gloomy  fatalism  and  childlike  good  cheer,  the  same  easy 
complaisance  coupled  with  invincible  obstinacy,  the  same 
subtle  unanimity  in  their  mental  processes,  invisible  and 
incomprehensible  to  the  onlooker,  the  same  estheticism  and 
warm-heartedness  linked  with  childish  ferocity,  the  same 
unbending  and  deathless  loyalty.  The  question  is  often  asked 
whether  the  Mexicans  are  not  'Very  treacherous."  The 
suggestion  is  ridiculous.     They  are  almost  criminally  loyal. 

The  hegemony  of  the  Aztecs  was  a  matter  of  two  or  three 
centuries,  more  or  less,  preceding  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards. 
They  had  forced  themselves  to  the  front  by  sheer  fighting 
abiHty.  Once  a  weary  and  dilapidated  tribe,  they  had  found 
refuge  on  a  rocky  island  of  the  salt  and  marshy  lake  of  Texcoco, 
where  for  a  time  they  eked  out  a  scanty  subsistence  by  fishing, 
hunting,  and  marauding.  "V^^en  later  their  numbers  had 
increased,  and  they  had  grown  skilled  in  arms,  they  overthrew 
the  pacific  agriculturists  round  about  them  and  came  to 
dominate  the  whole  beautiful  valley.  Their  warlike  life  begat 
a  bloody  reKgion,  and  the  worship  of  HuitzilopochtH,  God  of 
War,  culminated  in  human  sacrifices — of  captives  only,  at 
first — and  cannibalism.  This,  though  a  recent  and  localized 
development,  impressed  itself  so  on  the  European  invaders 
that  it  has  ever  since  colored  the  conception  of  the  Mexican 
national  character  entertained  throughout  the  world.  The 
fact  is  that  the  great  mass  of  the  Mexican  peoples  were  neither 
warlike  nor  bloody-minded,  and  their  rehgions  were  agricultural 
and  pastoral  in  type,  far  removed  from  the  sanguinary  cult 
of  the  Aztecs.  Indeed,  the  very  fact  that  the  Mexicans  in 
general  were  farmers  and  artisans  rathef  than  warriors  accounts 
for  the  sudden  rise  to  power  of  the  Aztec  tribe.  Some  similar 
phenomena  must  be  the  explanation  of  the  hastily  abandoned 

9 


granaries,  houses,  and  irrigated  fields  throughout  Arizona  and 
New  Mexico. 

As  is  usual  in  such  cases,  the  Aztec  conquerors  absorbed 
much  of  the  culture  of  the  peoples  whom  they  dominated. 
They  learned  the  art  of  stonework  and  woodwork,  of  archi- 
tecture and  city  planning.  They  received  the  benefits  of  the 
expert  farming  already  developed  by  their  predecessors,  the 
planting  and  cultivation  of  corn,  beans,  potatoes,  etc.,  and 
the  reduction  of  grains  to  food;  also  those  of  the  weaving  of 
cotton  and  other  fibers  into  cloth,  of  skilled  labor  in  gold, 
silver,  and  copper,  of  fine  arts  in  feather-work  and  hieroglyphic 
writing.  All  these,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  originated  before 
the  time  of  the  Aztecs*  of  Tenochtitlan,  though  naturally  the 
Spanish  invaders  attributed  all  that  they  discovered  to  the 
people  whom  they  found  in  power. 

This,  then,  is  the  situation  which  faces  us  at  the  beginning 
of  our  definite  knowledge  of  Mexico.  On  a  high,  healthful, 
and  fertile  plateau,  in  the  heart  of  which  is  a  beautiful  basin  or 
valley,  adorned  with  jeweled  lakes  and  watched  over  by  sentinel 
mountains,  two  of  them  capped  wdth  perpetual  snow,  has  been 
gathered  a  group  of  tribes,  henceforth  to  be  known  (through 
mistaken  geography)  as  ''Indians.''  They  are  in  the  early 
stages  of  civilization,  beginning  to  cultivate  the  soil,  to  build 
villages  of  the  communal  type  and  to  organize  governments. 
Divided  into  jurisdictions  that  were  primarily  tribes,  they  are 
yet  with  a  few  exceptions  racially  homogeneous.  Their 
several  languages  are  nevertheless  distinct  from  each  other, 
and  their  separate  governments  of  varying  form.  They  are  in 
a  chronic  state  of  antagonism  and  jealousy  among  themselves, 
which  often  breaks  into  warfare.  Together  they  make  a 
population  variously  estimated  at  from  two  to  four  millions. 

Although  the  tribes  differed  largely  among  themselves  in 
the  matter  of  social  standards  and  customs,  they  were  all 
pervaded  by  one  or  two  aspects  of  community  life.  Of  these 
the  most  important  was  the  line  drawn  between  nobles  and 


♦It  is  doubtful  whether  the  aborigines  of  Mexico  are  racially  homogeneous.  The  physical 
type  of  the  oldest  of  the  tribes,  the  Otomies,  is  totally  different  from  that  of  the  Yaquis,  the 
Zapotecs,  and  the  Mayas.  Moreover,  the  linguistic  differences  are  considerable.  The  language 
of  the  Otomies  is  monosyllabic;  that  of  the  other  tribes  was  in  the  agglutinative  period,  yet 
passing  into  the  period  of  inflexion.— E.  A.  C. 

10 


people.  Despite  the  frequent  descriptions  and  expositions  of 
this  social  system  in  which  the  writings  of  the  chroniclers 
abound,  it  is  difficult  now  to  trace  the  conceptions  out  of  which 
it  had  grown.  <lt  appears  to  have  been  a  fairly  normal  case  of 
feudalism,  that  state  of  society  likely  to  supervene  during  the 
transition  of  any  people  from  warlike  maraudings  to  settled 
agriculture  and  mechanic  arts.  The  war  chiefs  come  to  the 
front  through  skill  in  fighting.  Their  followers  in  battle 
remain  loyal  when  the  fighting  ceases.  If  they  begin  to  desire 
lands  and  villages  and  strongholds,  the  chief  and  his  vassals 
aid  each  other  to  secure  them.  Within  a  generation  or  two 
there  is  developed  an  hereditary  chieftainship.  Then  there 
remains  but  a  step  to  the  permanent  distinction  between 
noble  and  serf. 

Some  process  like  this  has  evidently  taken  place  in  Mexico. 
The  event  discloses  that  there  was  no  real  foundation  for  the 
distinction.  The  caciques  were  in  no  essential  point  superior 
to  or  even  different  from  the  macehuales.  Yet  since  the  dis- 
crimination was  quite  in  line  with  what  the  Spaniards  were 
used  to  at  home,  they  accepted  it  as  vital  and  final,  and  it 
exercised  a  far-reaching  influence  on  social  institutions  long 
after  the  Conquest. 

As  one  result  of  the  work  of  early  missionaries  among  the 
people  of  Mexico,  a  considerable  group  of  native  scholars  and 
writers  grew  up.  These  men,  masters  at  once  of  their  own  and 
the  Spanish  language,  took  great  pride  in  expounding  the 
institutions,  customs,  history,  and  glories  of  their  people. 
With  them  collaborated  not  a  few  of  the  missionaries,  men  who 
had  come  to  understand  something  of  the  significance  of  the 
native  culture,  and  even  to  have  some  measure  of  tolerance  for 
the  native  rehgion.  They  admitted,  at  least,  that  many  of  the 
acts  of  worship  belonging  to  it  were  of  themselves  innocent, 
and  they  allowed  their  converts  to  bring  with  them  into  the 
Christian  temples  the  garlands  and  dances  and  music  with 
which  those  converts  had  once  honored  the  gods  that  had  been 
displaced.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  these  native 
scholars  were  quite  as  apt  to  represent  plebeian  blood  as  noble 
blood,  despite  the  fact  that  never,  to  this  day,  in  Mexico,  have 

11  . 


the  sons  of  the  common  people  had  equal  opportunity  with 
those  who  were  looked  upon  as  of  better  birth.* 

No  phenomenon  of  the  social  history  of  Mexico  so  constantly 
impresses  itself  upon  the  student's  attention  as  this  discrimina- 
tion against  the  lowly  born.  Yet  nothing  is  plainer  than  that 
there  is  no  physical  or  moral  or  intellectual  factor  in  the  life 
of  the  people  themselves  that  justifies  it.  It  was,  nevertheless, 
both  before  and  after  the  advent  of  the  Spanish,  a  stubborn 
fact — oftener  a  bitter  and  an  unhappy  one.  It  has  left  traces 
in  the  national  character  and  raised  barriers  in  the  national 
life  that  have  not  disappeared  to  this  day.  How  it  affected 
educational  undertakings  will  appear  later. 

Following  the  Conquest  there  were  social  developments 
quite  as  significant  in  their  future  influence  as  was  the  political 
change  from  autonomy  among  the  native  Mexican  tribes  to 
government  by  representatives  of  the  Spanish  Crown.  For 
almost  a  generation  after  the  final  victory  of  Hernando  Cortez 
in  1521  there  was  no  immigration  of  Spaniards  except  soldiers 
and  friars.  Nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  the  soldiers 
should  form  alliances  with  the  Mexican  women.  These  were 
largely  women  of  the  plebeian  class,  and  the  majority  of  such 
unions  were  irregular.  At  once  there  was  thus  added  to  the 
existing  population  a  new  element,  the  mestizos,  or  mixed- 
bloods,  children  of  Spanish  fathers  and  Indian  mothers.  With- 
in another  generation,  when  Mexico  became  a  field  for  invest- 
ment in  mines,  plantations,  and  stock  ranches,  instead  of 
simply  the  arena  for  the  exploits  of  soldiers  or  the  diligence 
of  missionaries,  there  commenced  a  more  orderly  immigration. 
Spanish  citizens  arrived,  bringing  their  families.  They  came, 
usually  armed  with  concessions  granted  by  the  Crown,  prepared 
to  take  over  native  lands  and  mines,  and  with  them  native 
miners  and  farmers.  The  children  that  were  born  of  these 
Spanish  parents  added  still  another  clearly  defined  strain  to 
the  population,  the  Creoles  {criollos.)  (In  English  usage  this 
word  is  often  wrongly  taken  to  mean  the  same  as  mestizo. 
It  means  American  born,  of  European  parentage.) 


♦The  records  of  Mexico  from  the  time  of  the  political  independence  do  contain,  to  be  sure, 
names  of  Indians  of  pure  blood  who  rose  from  obscurity  to  high  positions  as  ministers,  generals, 
professors,  deputies,  and  even  presidents  of  the  Republic.  Among  the  best  known  of  these 
names  are  those  of  Jaurcz,  Mojia,  Mendoza,  Altamirano,  and  very  recently  Huerta. — E.  A.  C. 

12 


Such  was  the  Mexican  population  at  the  beginning  of  modern 
Mexican  history.  Consisting  originally  of  various  related 
tribes,  made  up  of  nobles  and  plebeians,  it  had  injected  into 
it  the  Spanish  conquistador es  and  their  successors,  the  non- 
descript mestizos,  and  the  proud  Creoles.  The  Spanish  invaders 
themselves  were  of  various  classes,  but  the  opportunities  of 
the  New  World  were  so  many,  and  its  fields  of  exploitation  so 
wide,  that  all  those  who  showed  any  aptitude,  whether  for 
politics  or  business,  were  able  soon  to  place  themselves  in  posi- 
tions of  advantage.  The  distinction  between  noble  and  serf  is 
everywhere  but  skin  deep,  at  best,  and  is  easily  rubbed  out 
when  circumstances  are  against  it.  The  Spanish  soldiers  were 
mostly  illiterate  peasants.  In  their  contact  with  the  proud 
and  disciplined  Indian  chieftains  they  often  appeared  at  a 
disadvantage.  Yet  by  the  power  of  arms  and  later  of  wealth 
they  soon  came  to  be  the  aristocracy  of  the  New  World. 

Of  interest  to  our  purpose  is  the  attitude  toward  these 
various  strata  of  early  Mexican  society  assumed  by  two  groups 
of  the  Spaniards,  the  governing  class  and  the  teachers.  The 
alliance  between  the  government  then  existing  in  Spain  and 
the  authorities  of  the  Catholic  Church  was  a  very  close  one. 
By  common  consent  the  work  of  educating  the  new  subjects 
was  left  to  the  representatives  of  the  Church.  One  historian 
says  very  bluntly  that  this  was  inevitable,  since  none  of  the 
other  Spanish  immigrants  were  capable  of  teaching  them 
letters.  This  is  rather  severe,  but  that  the  soldiers  were 
mostly  illiterate  is  not  open  to  doubt.  The  same  writer 
(Icazbalceta)  adds  that  the  income  of  the  Government  was  not 
sufficient  to  enable  it  to  establish  a  system  of  public  schools. 
On  this  point  his  accuracy  is  less  self-evident.*  The  speed 
with  which  the  governing  class  enriched  themselves  would 
indicate  that  the  country  did  not  lack  in  productiveness. 
The  Crown  revenues,  however,  suffered  from  a  defective  system 
of  taxation.  From  the  very  beginning  a  head  tax  had  been 
laid  upon  the  Indians.     The  Spanish  colonists  managed  usually 


*If  a  system  of  public  schools  was  not  established  by  the  Spanish  Crown,  the  fact  must  be 
explained  by  other  reasons  than  those  here  suggested.  "The  primary  or  elementary  school," 
says  Butler,  "springing  as  it  does  from  needs  and  ideas  that  are  comparatively  modern  .  .  . 
seems  but  a  creature  of  yesterday."  Properly  speaking  we  can  say  that  only  during  the 
nineteenth  century  has  education  "definitely  become  a  state  fimction." — E.  A.  C. 

13 


to  evade  such  taxation,  even  after  they  had  become  land-owners 
and  exploiters  of  the  wealth  of  the  country.  It  was  still  the 
Indian — the  poor  man — who  carried  the  load;  nor  is  this 
condition  of  things  yet  properly  remedied.  Senor  Ezequiel 
Chavez,  quoting  the  study  of  Don  Pablo  Macedo  on  the 
evolution  of  Mexican  finance,  makes  the  statement  that  the 
annual  income  of  New  Spain,  during  the  latter  period  of 
Spanish  control,  reached  $20,000,000.  At  least  two-fifths 
of  this,  probably  a  half,  was  sent  to  Spain. 

In  the  matter  of  colonial  administration  there  was  remark- 
able unanimity  between  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  author- 
ities in  Spain.  The  Crown  usually  accepted  the  suggestions 
of  the  Church  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  the  native  peoples 
of  the  New  World.  The  authorities  of  the  Church,  however, 
from  the  Pope  down,  while  moved  by  benevolence  and  a 
sincere  philanthropy,  were  often  so  far  afield  in  their  under- 
standing of  conditions  among  the  Indians  that  their  disposi- 
tions are  a  queer  jumble  of  beneficent  and  disastrous  provisions. 
The  spiritual  status  of  the  low-class  Indian  was  often  solemnly 
discussed.  Soldier  and  missionary  alike  doubted  whether  he 
was,  properly  speaking,  a  soul,  a  rational  being.  This  doubt 
persisted  so  long  that  it  crystallized  into  a  phrase.  Spaniards, 
Creoles,  Indian  caciques,  and  most  mestizos  were  spoken  of  as 
gente  de  razon  (rational  beings,)  a  class  from  which  indigenas — 
just  plain  Indians — were  by  inference  excluded.  This  sixteenth 
century  psychology  has  in  it  a  touch  of  humor,  but  the  scholars 
of  that  day  took  it  in  all  seriousness.  It  certainly  was  serious 
enough  for  the  Indian,  for  it  affected,  as  we  shall  see,  the 
provisions  that  were  made  for  his  education,  and  the  system 
of  education  thus  early  introduced  affected  the  whole  sub- 
sequent history  of  the  nation.  * 

While  in  home  affairs  there  was  usually  harmony  between 
the  political  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  friction  often  arose 
between  their  American  representatives  in  the  application  of 
orders  from  Spain.  The  secular  Spaniard,  whether  an  office- 
holder or  a  soldier,  although  usually  a  devout  Catholic  and 
desirous  of  Christian  converts,  was  primarily  interested  in  the 


♦The  somewhat  exceptional  ability  of  many  Indians  for  learning  was,  however,  clearly 
recognized  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  Colonial  period  by  such  acute  observers  as  Fray 
Ger<')nimo  Mendieta. — E.  A.  C. 

14 


search  for  gold.  The  resources  of  Mexico  (New  Spain,  it  was 
called)  were  so  fabulous,  and  riches  often  came  with  such  ease 
and  suddenness,  that  men  became  drunk  with  greed.  This 
avarice  astonished  the  Indians,  and  was  at  times  the  occasion 
of  sarcastic  comment.  The  plans  of  the  Government,  advised 
by  the  Church  authorities,  looked  primarily  to  the  Christianiz- 
ing of  the  native  peoples  of  Mexico.  But  in  the  hands  of  the 
colonial  administrators  and  settlers,  these  plans  were  often 
distorted  to  serve  the  most  selfish  interests.  If  the  royal  orders 
were  that  the  lands  should  be  divided  among  those  who  had 
merited  well  of  the  Crown,  the  native  people  were  seized  along 
with  the  land,  and  made  to  work  for  the  new  ''owner"  in 
virtual  slavery.  Thus  repartimientos  were  abused,  and  the 
system  had  to  be  abandoned.  If  a  large  land-owner  had 
''commended"  to  him  a  certain  number  of  Indians,  that  he 
might  civilize  and  Christianize  them,  he  promptly  enslaved 
the  whole  lot,  binding  them  as  serfs  to  his  land  and  preventing 
them  from  leaving  as  long  as  they  were  in  debt.  Thus  the 
encomiendas  were  abused.  More  than  one  effort  was  made  to 
abolish  the  system.  Enlightened  missionaries  thundered 
against  it.  Even  viceroys  condemned  it;  and  from  time  to 
time  royal  decrees  were  launched  against  it.  But  it  was  most 
profitable  to  the  colonists.  Many  of  them  were  far  in  the 
interior.  Not  seldom  the  monks  themselves  were  brought  to 
think  well  of  the  situation.  Were  not  the  Indians  submissive? 
Had  they  not  all  received  baptism?  What  could  be  safer  for 
them  than  humbly  to  take  the  secular  as  well  as  the  religious 
orders  of  their  superiors?  As  for  working,  that  was  also  good 
for  their  souls.  Left  to  themselves  they  would  loaf  and 
gamble  and  fight. 

So  the  encomiendas  persisted — in  fact,  if  not  in  name.  The 
lot  of  the  subjected  masses  was  not  called  slavery.  Men  and 
women  were  not  bought  and  sold — at  least  not  usually.  But 
they  belonged  body  and  soul  to  the  men  from  over  the  sea. 
They  were  helpless.  Their  paternal  lands  had  been  taken 
from  them,  and  they  had  become  serfs,  if  not  chattels.  Their 
weakness  made  resistance  of  any  kind  impossible.  Their  very 
language  faded  out,  except  in  secret  discourse,  and  their  tribal 
organizations  disappeared;  and  in  all  the  fertile  and  desirable 

15 


sections  of  their  country  they  settled  down  to  three  hundred 
years  of  ignorance  and  peonage.  Some  results  of  this  system 
our  further  studies  will  disclose.  * 


♦The  condition  that  succeeded  the  encomiendas  may  be  termed  a  very  bad  form  of  servitude 
de  la  GUbe,  yet  it  was  better  than  actual  slavery.  But  there  are  too  many  differences  in  the 
character  of  individual  landlords  and  in  the  physical  conditions  of  different  areas  to  make  an 
accurate  designation  possible.  Considerate  proprietors  maintained  their  haciendas  under  a 
mild  paternal  regime,  side  by  side  with  those  of  a  more  abusive  type.  Among  such  benevolent 
owners  we  may  mention  the  renowned  Don  Melchor  Ocampo,  late  of  the  state  of  Michoacan, 
and  Don  Olegario  Molina,  of  Yucatan.  The  benefactions  of  the  latter,  according  to  a  con- 
temporary, should  be  commemorated  by  a  public  monument.  There  are  many  others  of  like 
character.  Moreover,  in  some  few  localities — Xochimilco,  for  instance — the  Indians  retained 
individual  land  holdings. — E.  A.  C. 


16 


II  —  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD 
Summary 

The  early  mission  work  was  done  by  monastic  orders,  and  was  educa- 
tional. They  debated  how  much  to  teach  the  Indian.  The  missions  were 
at  first  attractive  and  useful  establishments.  The  mestizos  increased  the 
number  of  the  lower  class,  especially  in  cities.  Schools  were  established  to 
meet  the  needs  of  various  classes.  A  university  was  provided  as  early  as 
1551.  The  Jesuits  came  in  1572,  and  soon  engaged  in  educational  work. 
Various  institutions  followed. 

THE  work  of  education  in  the  new  world  was  given  over, 
as  pointed  out  above,  to  the  Church.  In  Mexico  this 
meant  the  monastic  orders  first,  chiefly  the  Franciscans, 
the  Dominicans,  and  the  Augustinians;  later  came  the  Jesuits. 
The  missions  established  among  the  Indians  by  the  monks  of 
the  sixteenth  century  were  largely  estabhshed  for  teaching. 
Nothing  else,  indeed,  was  possible.  These  people  needed  to 
learn  everything.  Some  of  them  were,  in  their  way,  not  bad 
farmers.  But  the  coming  of  the  Europeans  had  introduced 
farming  implements,  domestic  animals,  fruits,  vegetables,  and 
grains  not  before  known,  about  which  the  Indian  had  to  be 
informed.  Most  important  of  all,  he  needed  to  be  taught 
Christian  doctrine.  He  did  not  need  a  great  deal  of  this,  to 
be  sure,  to  induce  him  to  accept  baptism.  That  seemed  to 
him  a  rite  innocent  enough — a  good  deal  like  some  of  those 
employed  by  his  own  religion.  Just  what  mental  reservations 
he  might  entertain  did  not  greatly  concern  the  average  simple- 
minded  monk.  He  believed  in  the  efficacy  of  baptism,  ex 
opere  operato,  and  had  no  doubt  that  a  soul  was  redeemed  for 
heaven  each  time  that  he  administered  the  rite. 

Just  how  much  of  letters  should  be  taught  in  these  mission 
schools  was  a  subject  of  prolonged  study  and  sober  discussion. 
The  issues  involved  were  of  this  sort:  Can  the  Indian  with 
his  limited  intelligence  understand  letters?  (Facts  based  on 
experience  soon  put  this  question  out  of  court,  though  at  first 
it  was  given  great  weight.)  Again:  Of  what  use  will  a  knowl- 
edge of  letters  be  to  him?  will  it  not  endanger  his  soul  by 

17 


teaching  him  to  think  and  thus  to  be  less  submissive  in  matters 
of  doctrine?  will  it  not  make  him  dissatisfied  with  his  lot,  and 
less  desirable  as  a  laborer?  This  question  the  land-owners 
and  mine  masters  urged  with  an  insistence  that  is  perfectly 
intelligible.  Further,  why  should  the  common  Indian  wish 
to  read  unless  he  was  to  pursue  his  studies  in  higher  schools? 
That,  of  course,  was  out  of  the  question.  He  could  not  be 
allowed  to  study  theology,  for  its  mysteries  were  not  for  such 
as  he.  If  he  learned  jurisprudence,  it  would  certainly  give 
him  grounds  for  dissatisfaction  with  his  social  and  economic 
status.  As  for  philosophy,  it  was  inconceivable  that  people 
so  new  to  the  ways  of  thought  could  penetrate  the  mysteries 
of  that  recondite  subject.  Moreover,  since  there  were  no 
periodicals  and  few  books,  why  should  people  wish  to  read, 
anyhow? 

Such  questionings,  first  suggested — it  must  in  all  candor 
be  admitted — by  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Church  itself,  and 
naturally  taken  up  and  urged  by  the  majority  of  the  Spanish 
colonists,  served  greatly  to  cool  the  zeal  of  the  Franciscan  and 
Dominican  missionaries.  From  the  beginning  they  generally 
had  not  believed  it  worth  while  to  teach  girls,  and  in  dealing 
with  the  Indians  had  shown  a  marked  preference  for  the  sons 
of  the  nobles.  Such  primitive  institutions  as  they  had  built 
up  gradually  disintegrated  under  these  attacks.  The  missions 
ceased  to  be  centers  of  teaching,  and  gradually  came  to  be 
settlements  of  indolent  monks.  These  lived  off  the  labor  of 
the  Indians  in  the  fields  which  were  an  appurtenance  to  the 
establishment,  said  masses,  baptized  babies,  married  the 
young  people,  buried  the  dead,  and  otherwise  went  through 
the  routine  of  official  duties,  but  almost  completely  aban- 
doned their  teaching  function.  This  process  was  hastened  and 
finally  consummated  when  at  length  the  administration  of 
these  missions — most  of  which  had  now  become  an  asset  and 
not  a  liability— passed  by  pontifical  order  from  the  monks  to 
the  secular  priests. 

Of  the  idyllic  character  of  many  of  these  missions,  and  of 
the  unflagging  zeal  of  not  a  few  of  the  monks,  there  is  ample 
evidence.  The  boys  of  the  community  were  gathered  into 
the  schoolroom  and  taught  the  rudiments  of  letters,  along 

18 


with  the  * 'Christian  doctrine,"  which  always  had  the  prime 
emphasis.  In  the  eariy  mornings  and  late  afternoons,  before 
or  after  their  work  in  the  fields,  the  men  came  to  the  patio,  or 
open  court,  of  the  school,  and  also  received  their  instruction. 
This  was  even  more  rudimentary.  To  the  same  open-air 
school  came  the  girls,  who  were  not  thought  to  require  anything 
more  than  teaching  in  religion,  morals,  and  household  arts. 
In  rare  cases  provision  was  made  for  boarding  and  lodging 
students — boys,  of  course.  Mostly,  however,  the  schools  held 
only  day  sessions.  As  the  Indians  were  accustomed  to  gather 
in  settlements  about  these  mission  stations,  which  always 
occupied  eligible  and  well-watered  sites,  there  was  usually  no 
lack  of  students  for  the  monks  who  felt  moved  to  teach.  These 
same  Indians,  under  the  supervision  of  the  farmer-monks, 
labored  to  construct  churches,  monasteries,  granaries,  store- 
houses and  fort-like  inclosures,  and  cultivated  widely  extended 
glebes.  The  Indians  were  attached  to  their  spiritual  leaders 
and  teachers,  and  gave  freely  of  their  time  and  labor.  Neither 
parents  nor  pupils,  however,  could  be  impressed  with  the  need 
of  systematic  daily  attendance  upon  the  schools.  Such 
regularity  did  not  comport  with  Indian  temperament  or  habits. 

In  Mexico  City  and  other  centers  of  population  the  educa- 
tional problem  early  became  a  pressing  one.  It  was  in  such 
centers  that  extremes  of  poverty  and  wealth  tended  to  show 
themselves.  Even  before  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards,  Mexico 
had  its  rabble.  The  utter  demoraHzation  of  the  social  organism 
which  the  Conquest  induced  greatly  increased  the  number  of 
this  proletariat.  To  it  were  added  in  a  very  few  years  the 
greater  part  of  the  despised  and  abandoned  offspring  of  the 
Spanish  soldier  and  the  wretched  Indian  woman.  Many 
Spaniards  even,  caught  in  the  meshes  of  native  vice,  and 
especially  beguiled  by  the  native  drinks,  sank  to  the  level  of 
this  motley  and  hopeless  throng.  Within  fifteen  years  after 
the  occupation  of  the  Government  by  the  Spaniards,  the 
conditions  and  numbers  of  this  lower  class  were  such,  upon  the 
inauguration  of  the  vice-regal  system,  as  to  cause  grave  concern 
to  the  first  viceroy,  and  to  the  early  bishops  of  the  new  diocese. 
Their  representations,  and  other  reports  of  the  situation  of 
the  poor  mestizos,  resulted  finally  in  the  issue  of  a  royal  edict 

19 


in  the  year  1553  for  the  opening  of  an  institution  of  learning 
for  the  special  benefit  of  the  youths  of  this  class.  This  was 
the  "college"  of  San  Juan  de  Letran.*  In  it  were  taught 
reading,  writing,  and  Christian  doctrine.  It  received  a  small 
income  from  the  royal  treasury,  and  had  a  charter  direct  from 
the  Crown.  One  of  the  objects  of  this  foundation,  as  stated 
in  its  constitution,  was  that  the  young  men  educated  there 
might  become  teachers  in  other  schools.  <I't  seems  thus  to 
have  been  the  forerunner  of  all  normal  schools  in  the  New 
World  J  In  Tlaltelolco,  a  suburb  of  Mexico,  the  Franciscans 
had  already  founded  a  school  for  Indian  boys  in  1536, 
twelve  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  missionaries.  The 
course  there  was  somewhat  more  extended  than  in  most  of 
them,  for  to  reading,  writing,  and  Christian  doctrine  were 
added  grammar,  Latin,  rhetoric,  philosophy,  music,  and 
medicine.  (Arithmetic  is  not  mentioned  by  the  authority 
here  consulted — Icazbalceta.)  One  singular  outcome  of  this 
short-lived  educational  enterprise  was  the  fact  that  Indian 
boys  educated  there  came  to  be  the  teachers  and  spiritual 
guides  of  Creoles  and  even  of  Spaniards.  (In  the  social  scale 
of  the  time  the  order  of  precedence  was  Spaniard,  Creole, 
Indian,  mestizo.)  In  1544,  after  twenty  years  of  work  by  the 
missionaries,  Bishop  Zumarraga,  in  seeking  to  secure  the 
translation  into  the  language  of  the  Indians  of  a  certain  book 
of  doctrine,  gave  as  his  reason  that  "there  were  so  many  of 
them  that  could  read."  Considering  that  these  early  mis- 
sionaries had  first  to  master  the  native  language  and  then 
reduce  it  to  writing,  it  is  no  small  tribute  to  their  zeal  and 
ability  that  within  the  space  of  twenty  years  they  had  pro- 
duced among  the  Indians  a  generation  of  readers. 

Among  the  ecclesiastics  who  came  to  Mexico  during  the 
first  century  of  Spanish  rule  were  many  university  men.  As 
the  wealth  and  social  status  of  the  colony  advanced,  these  men 
were  the  leaders  in  agitating  for  the  establishment  of  an 
institution  of  learning  of  high  grade.  The  colonists  them- 
selves— whose  wealth  had  rapidly  increased,  and  whose  sons, 
if  they  secured  an  education,  had  either  to  go  to  Spain,  or  send 
there  for  private  tutors — joined  in  the  demand.     In  1551,  there- 

♦Cf.  Alamdn,  Historia  de  Mexico,  I,  18,  note.— I.  J.  C. 

20 


fore,  a  royal  cedula  was  issued  ordering  the  foundation  of  a 
li^cqllege  of  all  sciences,"  and  in  1553,  two  years  later,  the 
University  was  formally  inaugurated.  This  was,  as  will  have 
been  noted,  the  year  of  the  opening  of  the  college  of  San  Juan 
de  Letran.  The  Dominicans  had  been  the  leaders  in  urging 
the  establishment  of  the  University,  and  its  administration  was 
at  the  beginning  entrusted  to  them.  Meantime,  a  lay  brother 
of  the  Franciscans,  Pedro  de  Gante,  had  built  up  a  huge  primary 
school  for  poor  boys  alongside  the  monastery  of  his  order  in 
Mexico  City.*  A  convent  school  for  girls  grew  up  later  as 
the  result,  also,  of  his  efforts  to  do  something  for  the  sisters 
of  his  multitude  of  boys. 

There  were  a  good  many  other  primary  schools,  all  of  the 
same  general  type,  which  came  into  being  alongside  the  various 
monastic  establishments  of  the  different  orders.  The  devotion 
of  wealthy  Creoles  and  Spanish  colonists  often  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  orders  valuable  properties  in  real  estate  and 
vested  fimds,  and  the  groups  of  friars  multiplied,  both  within 
and  without  the  centers  of  population.  Teachers  imported 
from  Spain  and  those  who  began  to  be  trained  in  the  native 
institutions  came  in  time  to  establish  a  goodly  number  of 
private  schools  of  various  types.  The  Government,  however, 
did  practically  nothing.  Even  when  it  occasionally  founded  a 
school  it  at  once  turned  the  administration  of  it  over  to  the 
monks;  the  natural  result  being  that  the  institution  soon 
differed  in  no  wise  from  the  openly  ecclesiastical  type.  The 
pious  sentiments  expressed  from  time  to  time  by  the  Spanish 
Crown  do  not  atone  for  the  complete  abandonment  of  all 
responsibility  for  the  education  of  the  Mexican  people.  How- 
ever firmly  the  kings  of  Spain  might  have  held  the  idea  that  all 
education  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Church,  there  could 
at  least  be  no  justification  for  withholding  the  financial  assist- 
ance that  might  have  made  the  Church  efficient.  That  was 
before  the  day  of  government  lay  schools,  and  the  theory  was 
almost  universally  accepted  that  the  training  of  the  young 
should  be  left  wholly  to  ecclesiastics,  in  order  to  guarantee 


*He  was  the  pioneer  of  education  in  New  Spain,  if  not  in  the  whole  New  World.  In  1522 
Ee  f(31In'aed  the  first  school  in  Texcoco,  and  afterwards  that  of  San  FVancisco  in  Mexico  City. 
In  Michoacan,  just  in  the  first  decades  of  the  Spanish  Conquest,  education  was  successfully 
started  by  Bishop  Vasco  de  Quiroga,  the  founder  of  the  Colegio  de  San  Nicolas. — E.  A.  C. 

21 


that  it  should  be  reHgious.  How  was  it  possible  for  the  Govern- 
ment to  escape  the  thought  that  the  people  of  Mexico  were 
entitled  to  have  some  proportion  of  the  enormous  sums  wrung 
from  them  in  taxation  used  in  the  training  of  their  own  sons 
and  daughters?     This  question  still  remains  a  mystery. 

Later  in  the  sixteenth  century  (1572)  came  the  Jesuits  to 
Mexico.  Throughout  its  history  and  in  all  the  wide  geo- 
graphic range  of  its  activities  this  order  has  been  identified 
with  the  work  of  education.  Its  beginnings  in  Mexico  were 
humble,  however,  and  the  expressed  intentions  of  the  first 
representatives  were  to  devote  themselves  primarily  to  preach- 
ing. But  they  early  secured  a  hold  among  the  well-to-do  of 
the  colonists,  who  began  to  urge  them  to  assume  responsibility 
for  the  education  of  the  sons  of  the  colonists.  In  spite  of  this, 
the  first  educational  enterprise  of  the  order  in  Mexico  was  for 
the  benefit  of  poor  boys.  This  was  the  foundation  of  the  college 
of  Santa  Maria  de  Todos  los  Santos,  in  1573,  carrying  an 
endowment  of  ten  free  scholarships  with  board  and  lodging. 
It  was  made  possible  by  a  donation  offered  by  Dr.  Francisco 
Rodriguez  Santos,  who  at  first  wished  to  enter  this  order  and 
donate  to  it  all  his  property,  but  was  persuaded  by  the  father 
superior,  Pedro  Sanchez,  to  found  instead  this  college.* 

The  same  Jesuit  father  superior,  Pedro  Sanchez,  preached 
a  sermon  in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  a  theological  seminary, 
and  so  stirred  the  laymen  who  heard  him  that  a  group  of  them 
formed  a  board  and  got  together  an  endowment  for  such  an 
institution.  Thus  the  Seminary  of  San  Pedro  y  San  Pablo  was 
founded,  at  the  end  of  the  same  year,  1573.  A  little  later  the 
Augustinians  founded  the  College  of  San  Pablo;  and  there  began 
to  be  no  little  competition  in  undertakings  of  this  kind.  Pro- 
vincial seminaries  for  the  training  of  Indian  youths  to  be 
missionaries  had  already  been  established  in  different  parts  of 
the  country.  One  of  these,  after  suffering  numerous  vicissi- 
tudes, still  survives  in  the  Colegio  de  San  Nicolas,  now  a  state 
school,  at  Morelia,  State  of  Michoacan,  apparently  the  oldest 


*It  should  be  observed  that  the  word  "college"  is  used  loosely  here  as  the  translation  of 
the  corresponding  Spanish  term.  This  term  does  not  describe  such  an  institution  as  in 
modern  English  is  connoted  by  the  word.  In  the  period  under  review  the  institutions  so 
called  were  usually  barely  above  the  grade  of  primary  schools,  the  best  of  them  hardly 
reaching  that  of  the  modern  high  school. 

22 


school  with  a  continuous  history  in  Mexico,  and  one  of  the 
oldest  on  the  American  continent.  Its  chief  claim  to  fame, 
outside  this  fact  of  its  antiquity,  is  that  it  was  the  alma  mater 
of  Father  Hidalgo,  the  Liberator  of  Mexico.  He  was  also  for 
a  time  rector  of  the  institution.* 


♦For  a  brief  summary  of  a  few  sporadic  eflForts  to  establish  a  school  system  in  a  Spanish 
frontier  villa  or  town,  cf.  article  by  I.  J.  Cox  on  "Educational  Efforts  in  San  Fernando  de 
Bexar,"  (now  San  Antonio,  Texas),  in  Quarterly  of  the  Texas  Historical  Association,  July, 
1902,  VI,  27-63.  As  showTi  there  (pp.  27-35)  some  little  educational  leaven  was  beginning  to 
work  among  the  Creole  and  mestizo  classes  during  the  last  thirty  years  of  Spanish  rule.  This 
was,  of  course,  pitifully  weak  and  inconsequential,  but  its  presence  should  at  least  be  noted. 

It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  for  a  small  element  of  the  population,  composed  almost  exclusively 
of  high-class  Creoles,  there  were  cultural  advantages  of  no  mean  character  at  the  close  of  the 
vice-regal  period.  Public  functions  at  the  capital  and  in  other  important  centers  were  marked 
by  contests  in  poetry  and  oratory.  Some  of  the  productions  of  these  contests  received  recogni- 
tion in  Europe.  The  Inquisition  was  active  in  suppressing  what  it  regarded  as  objectionable 
books,  but  the  book-trade  in  certain  publications  was  flourishing.  In  the  last  decade  of  the 
eighteenth  century  a  creditable  edition  of  Livy  was  printed  in  Mexico  City  and  sold  by  sub- 
scription, and  there  were  other  instances  of  classical  authors  finding  a  market  in  New  Spain. 
Large  and  well-selected  private  libraries  were  reported  in  the  capital  and  elsewhere.  Mexico 
City  boasted  of  an  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  and  in  1803  dedicated  an  equestrian  statue  of  Carlos 
IV  that  still  arouses  artistic  enthusiasm.  At  this  same  period  there  was  considerable  writing 
of  local  history.  After  1784  periodicals  like  the  Gaceta  de  Mexico,  the  Diario  de  Mexico,  and 
the  Diario  de  Vera  Cruz  began  to  publish  general  as  well  as  governmental  and  commercial 
news.  In  spite  of  rigorous  censorship  they  exerted  a  beneficial  effect  on  public  opinion  and 
indicated  an  encouraging  amount  of  general  culture  among  the  higher  classes.  Possibly  this 
manifestation  was  largely  due  to  the  enlightened  policy  of  Carlos  III  and  his  subordinates,  and 
much  of  it  disappeared  during  the  succeeding  political  disturbances;  but  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  ciiltural  opportunities  in  Mexico  City,  on  the  eve  of  the  struggle  for  independence, 
compare  favorably  with  those  of  any  American  city  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution. — 
I.  J.  C. 

23 


y 


III— PERIOD  OF  POLITICAL  LIBERATION 

Summary 

The  educational  plans  of  colonial  days  were  inadequate.  Political 
movements  for  freedom  were  belated  in  Latin  America.  The  Napoleonic 
intervention  in  Spain  gave  colonists  their  opportunity.  •  The  revolution 
was  a  movement  of  the  plebeian  class.  The  first  plan  was  to  set  up  a 
"Cathohc  monarchy"  in  Mexico,  out  of  reach  of  Napoleon.  FaiUng  this, 
change  was  made  to  republicanism,  in  emulation  of  the  United  States. 

SUCH,  in  rough  outline,  were  the  educational  provisions 
with  which  Spain  set  out  to  do  her  duty  by  her  namesake 
in  the  New  World.  Our  purpose  does  not  demand  that 
we  should  trace  through  the  three  hundred  years  of  the  vice- 
regal period  the  vicissitudes  of  these  educational  institutions, 
the  shifting  ideals  which  animated  those  in  control  of  them, 
and  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  whole  cause  of  education,  as 
between  Church  and  State,  between  Crown  and  colony, 
hidalgo  and  creole.  It  will  suffice  to  pass  at  once  to  a  view  of 
Mexico  as  that  country  emerged  from  the  somnolence  of 
colonial  days  into  the  stir  and  bustle  of  the  century  of  independ- 
ence. 

Mexico  attained  her  political  freedom,  along  with  most 
other  Spanish  and  Portuguese  colonies,  in  the  early  years  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  This  general  movement  in  Latin 
America  resulted  from  the  gradual  working  of  the  republican 
leaven,  liberated  into  the  world's  thought  by  the  successful 
dash  for  independence  of  the  English  colonies  in  America  and 
later  by  the  vast  upheaval  of  the  French  Revolution.  That 
Latin  America  (as  we  have  of  late  come  to  describe  it)  was  thus 
fifty  years  behind  the  British  colonies  is  an  index  of  the  slower 
rate  at  which  public  sentiment  is  formed  and  propagated 
among  those  peoples  than  among  such  as  possess  a  free  press 
and  show  a  high  percentage  of  literacy.  The  democratic  and 
leveling  effects  of  the  Protestant  religion,  as  compared  with  the 
emphasis  on  obedience  and  submission  characteristic  of  Catholic 
doctrine,  should  doubtless  also  be  taken  into  account. 

24 


Something  more,  however,  than  the  mere  dissemination  of 
Hberal  sentiments  and  of  a  desire  for  national  independence  and 
for  self-government  had  to  supervene  in  order  that  the  Spanish- 
American  colonies  might  achieve  their  independence.  They 
had  been  drained  of  their  resoui'ces  to  enrich  the  mother 
country.  Their  peoples,  instinctively  loyal,  had  been  long 
trained  to  submission.  The  powerful  sanctions  of  religion 
were  invoked  to  strengthen  the  hold  of  civil  authority.  And 
Spain  was,  and  had  long  been,  a  proud  and  efficient  military 
power.  It  was  only,  therefore,  when  the  nightmare  of  the 
Napoleonic  cataclysm  was  upon  Europe,  and  when  the  Spanish 
Government,  along  with  many  others,  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  Corsican,  that  the  clock  of  destiny  struck  for 
Mexico,  Venezuela,  Colombia,  and  the  rest.  They  did  not 
break  the  shackles  that  held  them  to  the  Old  World;  the 
shackles  fell  away. 

In  Mexico  the  culmination  came  by  the  working  of  a  queer 
contradiction,  thoroughly  characteristic  of  that  anomalous 
land.  For  years  there  had  been  restlessness  on  the  part  of  the 
indigenous  peoples.  They  did  not  quite  know  what  independ- 
encia  meant,  but  they  were  sure  that  their  condition  ought  to 
be  improved — that,  indeed,  it  could  not  be  worse.  So,  at  last, 
while  the  Corsican  dominated  the  mother  country,  they  rose 
up  in  a  great  wave  of  protest,  and  under  the  priest  Hidalgo, 
sweeping  all  before  them,  came  to  the  very  gates  of  Mexico 
City.  They  could  doubtless  have  taken  it  by  mere  weight  of 
numbers,  had  they  gone  on.  But  the  heart  of  the  priest- 
general  failed  him.  He  hesitated,  then  retired.  Once  the 
retreat  had  begun,  the  vast  throng  of  unarm.ed,  ill-provisioned 
peasants  disintegrated  under  the  blows  of  a  small  group  of 
soldiers;  and  in  a  few  months  Hidalgo's  head  was  upon  a  stake. 
This  was  in  1810-11.  Guerrilla  bands  kept  the  war  going. 
The  government  poKcing  was  inefficient  at  best.  Spain  needed 
all  her  soldiers  and  all  her  attention  for  affairs  at  home.  Be- 
tween republicans  in  his  own  domain  and  Napoleonism  outside, 
the  lot  of  the  Spanish  monarchs  was  just  then  far  from  happy. 
Even  after  the  allies  disposed  of  Napoleon  and  were  settling 
the  affairs  of  Europe,  they  could  not  save  Ferdinand  VII  of 
Spain  from  domestic  troubles.     The  Juntas  and  the  Cortes 

25 


were  demanding  a  liberal  constitution,  freedom  of  the  Govern- 
ment from  ecclesiastical  control,  and  reforms  of  all  kinds. 

In  Mexico,  the  ragged  patriots  who  had  been  for  ten  years 
warring  for  independence  were  opposed  by  a  Government  and 
an  Army  which  represented  loyalty  to  the  old  order — the 
Crown  and  the  Church,  the  Catholic  Monarchy  of  Spain.  So 
when  Spain  itself  appeared  about  to  divest  itself  of  the  Catholic 
king,  the  happy  thought  occurred  to  the  loyal  leaders  overseas 
to  invite  him  to  Mexico  to  set  up  a  monarchy  which  should 
thenceforth  be  independent  of  Spain.  By  this  step  the  demand 
for  independence  could  be  reconciled  with  loyalty  to  the  Church. 
The  compromise  was  proposed  to  the  rebels,  who,  as  good 
Catholics,  but  desirous  of  national  independence,  saw  nothing 
objectionable  in  it.  Thus  the  two  sides  came  together  under 
the  "Plan  of  Iguala,"  and  the  tri-color  flag  of  independent 
Mexico  was  adopted,  the  red,  white,  and  green  signifying  the 
three  guarantees  of  independence,  reHgion,  and  union.  Despite 
his  troubles  with  the  liberals  in  Spain,  however,  Ferdinand  did 
not  emigrate  to  Mexico;  and  though  the  plan  which  had  been 
adopted  provided  for  another  succession  in  that  event,  the 
ambition  of  Iturbide,  the  loyaHst  leader,  led  him  to  assume  the 
position  of  Emperor  of  Mexico,  and  to  attempt  to  set  up  there 
an  independent  kingdom.  Republican  sentiment  was  very 
strong  among  the  Mexicans,  however,  and  Iturbide's  kingdom 
was  of  short  life.  Following  it  came  the  adoption  of  the  first 
republican  constitution,  that  of  1824,  which  was  the  beginning 
of  the  effort,  that  still  continues  in  that  unhappy  land,  to 
establish  on  the  basis  of  the  independence  so  strangely  achieved 
the  rule  of  the  people  by  the  people. 


IV 
CONDITIONS  AT   BEGINNING   OF  INDEPENDENCE 

Summary 

The  prolonged  failure  of  popular  government  in  Mexico  was  due  to  the 
failure  of  the  Colonial  system  of  education.  The  real  people  had  not  been 
educated.  On  the  contrary,  numerous  factors  had  been  at  work  to  degrade 
them.  They  were  victims  of  all  kinds  of  tyrannies.  Wealth  came  at 
last  to  be  the  social  criterion.  By  its  possession  or  its  lack,  the  people 
were  grouped  into  higher  and  lower  classes.  The  matter  of  blood  and  race 
gradually  ceased  to  be  of  importance. 

AFTER  a  hundred  years,  self-government  is  yet  without 
assured  success  in  Mexico.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  the  principal  reason  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
failure  of  early  plans  for  the  education  of  the  people.  For 
those  devices,  undertaken  as  has  been  already  described,  three 
centuries  before,  had  failed.  The  priests,  the  lawyers,  the 
doctors,  the  sons  of  wealthy  families,  had  received  training, 
but  the  people — the  Creoles,  the  mestizos,  the  Indians,  the 
masses,  or,  speaking  more  exactly,  the  m^ass,  of  the  Mexican 
people — were  left  in  ignorance.  The  welter  of  social,  political, 
industrial,  and  other  influences  had,  indeed,  wrought  its  effects 
on  the  common  people.  Their  condition  at  the  beginning  of 
the  period  of  independence  was  a  composite  result  of  these 
long-exerted  forces.  But  that  phase  of  it  which  is  most  out- 
standing, and  which  lay  most  obviously  and  stubbornly  in 
the  road  of  future  political  success  under  republican  forms,  was 
their  ignorance.  Careful  estimates  indicate  that  of  a  popula- 
tion of  perhaps  6,000,000,  only  30,000  could  read  and  wi'ite. 
This,  as  will  be  seen,  is  exactly  one-half  of  one  per  cent. 

The  truth  is  that  there  had  never  been  any  sentiment  in 
favor  of  the  education  of  the  Indians  aside  from  that  exhibited 
by  the  very  early  missionaries.  The  mestizos  were  almost 
equally  unfortunate.  And  since  even  the  monks  had  a  most 
limited  conception  of  what  education  the  Indians  required, 
and  since  their  successors,  the  secular  curates,  did  not  even  carry 

27 


forward  the  rudimentary  instructions  that  had  at  first  been 
undertaken,  the  outcome  of  it  all  was  that  the  bulk  of  the 
Mexican  population  was  little  better  off  in  the  matter  of  letters 
at  the  end  of  the  Spanish  dominion  than  at  the  beginning. 

Meantime,  numerous  influences  had  tended  to  degrade  the 
Mexicans  of  the  lower  classes.  The  very  insistence  on  class 
distinction  had  been  little  short  of  a  calamity.  The  caciques 
held  their  subjects  in  low  esteem,  as  belonging  to  an  inferior 
order.  This  discrimination — for  which  there  seems  to  have 
been  no  sort  of  justification  in  fact — was  accepted  by  the 
Spaniards.  It  was  even  enforced  by  them,  which  was  far  more 
serious.  They  saw  no  reason  why  the  chiefs  should  not  hold 
their  subjects  as  slaves,  as  they  had  formerly  done,  though 
the  Spanish  Government,  through  its  Council  for  the  Indies, 
and  through  the  influence  of  the  Church,  contended  earnestly 
against  anything  Hke  enslavement  of  the  Indians.  The 
decrees  and  dispositions  relative  to  this  and  similar  abuses, 
still  of  record  in  the  archives  of  the  Spanish  Crown,  are  greatly 
to  the  credit  of  the  Christian  monarchs  of  those  days,  and  to 
that  of  the  ecclesiastical  leaders  who  were  their  principal 
advisers. 

But  it  seemed  impossible  to  devise  regulations  which  the 
avarice  and  the  arrogance  of  the  colonists  could  not  set  aside. 
The  very  means  of  which  the  Crown  availed  itself  for  the 
Christianizing  and  protection  of  the  Indians  were  constantly 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  colonial  overlords  to  oppress  and 
enslave  them.  The  caciques  led  the  way  in  domineering 
cruelty  and  industrial  exploitation,  and  the  Spanish  colonists 
and  Creoles  were  apt  and  willing  learners.  Were  lands  distrib- 
uted to  Spanish  soldiers  and  settlers,  they  seized  the  people 
along  with  them.  Indeed,  repartimientos  soon  came  to  be 
calculated  in  heads  of  people,  instead  of  hectareas  of  land. 
Were  the  Indians  commended  to  Christian  settlers,  to  be 
taught  and  Christianized,  the  settlers  made  them  work  on 
farms  and  in  mines;  and  while  pocketing  the  resulting  riches, 
justified  themselves  by  pretending  that  the  Indians  were 
benefited  by  the  discipline.  Even  the  teachers  made  the 
natural  sloth  and  backwardness  of  their  Indian  pupils  a  pretext 
for  inhuman  floggings,   and   adopted  as  one  of  their  chief 

28 


principles  the  common  pedagogical  saying,  La  letra  con  sangre 
entra — Learning  enters  through  blood-letting. 

In  many  sections  the  sternest  kind  of  measures  were  taken 
to  force  the  Indians,  habituated  to  solitude  and  privacy,  to 
live  in  villages.  The  extent  to  which  such  a  regulation  would 
lend  itself  to  abuse  never  seems  to  have  dawned  on  the  author- 
ities in  Spain.  They  were  interested  in  facilitating  the  work 
of  evangelization,  and,  incidentally,  the  census,  for  purposes 
of  taxation.  Another  injustice,  which  all  the  humaneness  and 
even  tenderness  of  the  regulations  concerning  the  poor  natives 
of  the  New  World  failed  to  atone  for,  was  the  odious  head  tax 
of  one  dollar  a  year,  exacted  of  all  Indians  from  the  very 
beginning.  This  tax  was  divided  into  various  funds,  only  a 
part  of  it  going  directly  to  the  Crown.  But  the  collections  of 
it  subjected  the  Indians  to  incalculable  abuses,  and  resulted, 
also,  in  systematic  and  lucrative  fraud  upon  the  part  of  the 
collectors.  They  falsified  the  census  returns,  for  example, 
reporting  far  fewer  Indians  than  they  really  had  collected  from; 
also,  they  often  managed,  by  the  connivance  of  the  local 
authorities  and  otherwise,  to  increase  the  amount  of  the  tax 
itself,  to  the  tribulation  of  the  poor  Indians. 

These  came  in  time  to  view  with  suspicion  and  uneasiness 
every  measure  enforced  among  them.  The  King  of  Spain 
might  mean  to  be  kind,  but  his  laws  always  worked  sorrow  for 
them.  There  were,  as  times  passed,  violent  native  uprisings 
in  several  sections  of  the  country,  and  more  than  one  prolonged 
and  bloody  Indian  war.  Yet  for  the  most  part  the  natives  in 
the  territory  of  what  is  now  Mexico,  were,  like  their  descendants 
today,  uniformly  docile  and  pacific. 

As  was  inevitable  from  the  beginning,  the  social  distinc- 
tion between  classes  settled  down  finally  upon  the  criterion  of 
wealth.  The  caciques  came  to  a  more  or  less  ridiculous  end. 
As  time  went  on,  every  Indian  who  chanced  to  be  elected 
alcalde,  or  who  received  a  government  appointment  of  any 
kind,  considered  that  he  was  thereby  elevated  to  the  class  of 
cacique.  The  hereditary  glamour  which  had  continued  to 
cling  about  certain  families  came  thus  gradually  to  fade. 
There  were  caciques  on  every  hand,  kings  of  shreds  and  patches; 
many  of  them  trying  to  preserve  ancestral  dignity,  though 

29 


living  in  clay  huts,  and  digging  to  earn  a  scanty  fare  of  com 
and  beans.  * 

Many  of  the  descendants  of  the  conquistador es  were  equally 
unimpressive.  Not  having  taken  pains  to  acquire,  or  having 
failed  to  hold,  productive  lands  or  mines  that  might  have  given 
them  the  enduring  power  of  gold,  as  against  the  brief  glory  of 
being  victors  and  officers  of  the  Crown,  they  slid  down,  along 
with  their  mestizo  descendants,  into  the  great  conglomerate 
mass.  The  various  ingredients  making  up  that  mass  became 
year  by  year  more  and  more  indistinguishable.  They  were 
fused  together  in  the  fire  of  poverty,  they  were  welded  into  one 
under  the  hammer  of  persecution.  By  the  time  of  national 
emancipation  there  had  thus  come  into  being  the  vast  and 
fairly  homogeneous  mass  of  the  Mexican  people — five  millions 
of  them,  more  or  less.  Of  these  at  least  nine-tenths  belonged  to 
the  ''lower  class."  Aside  from  a  few  crude  and  isolated  Indian 
tribes,  left  undigested  in  remote  mountainous  sections,  and  the 
exceptionally  depraved  substratum  in  the  larger  cities,  there 
was  no  warrant  for  distinguishing  these  nine-tenths  of  the 
Mexicans  from  the  other  tenth  as  ''lower."  The  distinction 
was  alike  invidious  and  gratuitous,  f  Cacique  was  no  longer 
distinguishable  from  macehual;  hidalgo  and  criollo  were  jumbled 
together  inseparably;  even  the  despised  mestizo,  now  multiplied 
until  he  formed  half  or  more  of  the  total  population,  could  no 
longer  be  looked  down  upon.  All  these  elements  were  present 
in  the  "upper  class,"  as  well  as  in  the  mass.  The  Mexican 
people  in  blood,  at  least,  was  at  last  one.  Its  classes  differed 
only  in  the  matter  of  opportunity,  and  in  those  traits  resulting 
from  opportunity,  or  the  want  of  it.  This  was  the  situation 
which  the  men  faced  who  undertook,  a  hundred  years  ago,  to 
follow  the  lead  of  their  neighbors  just  to  the  north  in  establish- 
ing a  popular  government.  Those  men,  during  the  stress  of  a 
ten  years'  war,  had  been  themselves  drawn  from  all  the  different 


♦The  real  caciques  have  not  wholly  disappeared  from  the  Republic,  but  within  the  last  twenty 
or  thirty  years  have  changed  their  characteristics.  Don  Juan  Alvarez,  a  cacique  of  the  State 
of  Guerrero,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  was  a  zealous  patriot,  who  later  became  president 
of  the  Republic.  Today  there  are  remnants  of  the  cacique  system  in  such  states  as  Oaxaca 
and  Chiapas.— E.  A.  C. 

tThe  existence  of  an  immense  mass  of  poor  people  and  of  a  few  rich  families  was  not  a  new 
situation  for  Mexico.  The  lack  of  unity  in  each  class,  emphasized  by  dilTerences  in  educa- 
tion, was  the  essential  fact. — E.  A.  C. 

30 


groups  composing  the  population.  Some  were  of  pure  Spanish 
blood,  some  were  Indians,  some  mestizos.  They  all  agreed, 
in  so  far  as  they  faced  at  all  the  problems  involved  in  their 
undertaking,  that  one  of  the  primary  steps  required  would  be 
the  education  of  the  people.  Ignorance  was  general  and 
appalling;  and  citizens  of  sovereign  republics  must  not  be 
ignorant. 


31 


V— EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  REPUBLIC 

Summary 

The  study  of  education  prior  to  the  founding  of  the  Republic  is  only  a 
preliminary  process.  Our  chief  interest  is  in  what  has  been  done  since. 
Leaders  in  the  movement  for  independence  were,  also,  partisans  of  popular 
education.  The  constitution  of  1824  was  not  exactly  adapted  to  Mexican 
conditions.  At  the  very  beginning  there  arose  the  tense  political  con- 
troversy between  Centralists  and  Federalists.  The  liberation  from  Spanish 
political  control  was  not  the  final  consummation  of  Mexico's  liberty. 
Spiritual,  intellectual,  and  industrial  liberty  had  yet  to  be  achieved.  The 
Centralists  and  clericals  did  not  encourage  popular  education.  Their 
oppressions  tended  to  arouse  the  people.  The  liberal  party  favored  educa- 
tion, but  was  never  long  in  power.  The  country  became  greatly  im- 
poverished by  continuous  fighting.  This  also  hindered  the  development 
of  pubhc  education.  The  burden  was  upon  the  States.  They  shifted  it 
to  the  municipios.  For  lack  of  funds,  of  teachers,  inspection,  etc.,  progress 
was  slow.  Upon  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  1824,  and  the  state 
constitutions,  there  followed  much  scholastic  legislation.  It  was  made 
sterile  by  repeated  revolutions. 

FOR  our  present  purpose  the  preceding  exposition  of 
educational  and  social  conditions  during  and  at  the 
close  of  Mexico's  colonial  days  is  merely  preliminary. 
The  Mexican  people  are  still  engaged,  as  they  have  been  with 
deadly  earnestness  for  a  century,  in  the  attempt  to  maintain 
popular  government.  It  is  the  educational  history  which  has 
accompanied  this  endeavor,  not  that  which  preceded  it,  which 
will  throw  most  light  on  conditions  now  obtaining,  and  those 
to  be  faced  in  the  immediate  future.  That  history,  however, 
more  especially  during  the  early  decades  of  the  nation's  inde- 
pendent life,  has  been  largely  typified  by  the  ethnic,  social, 
industrial,  and  political  conditions  remaining  over  as  an 
inheritance  from  vice-regal  days.  It  has  seemed  worth  while, 
therefore,  to  set  forth  those  conditions  in  this  somewhat 
extended  review.  Perhaps  it  is  not  amiss,  also,  to  draw 
attention  once  more  to  the  fact  that  racial  influences  had,  and 
still  have,  much  to  do  with  any  matter  affecting  the  life  of  the 
Mexican  people.    We,  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  are 

32 


without  a  parallel  in  experience  for  the  racial  history  and 
situation  offered  by  Mexico.  In  this  part  of  America  the 
nomadic  and  scattering  aborigines  gave  way  so  swiftly  and  so 
completely  before  the  invasion  of  their  country  by  European 
settlers,  that  they  exerted  no  appreciable  effects  as  an  amalgam 
in  the  subsequent  population.  They  were  not  attached  to  the 
soil,  nor  had  they  developed  social,  political,  or  industrial 
efficiency  to  a  point  that  would  make  it  possible  for  them 
to  mingle  with  and  compete  with  the  immigrants.  In  Mexico 
all  was  different.  No  greater  mistake  could  be  made  than  to 
judge  the  "Indians"  of  that  country  by  the  'Indians"  who 
inhabited  this. 

WTiile  it  is  true,  as  was  pointed  out  above,  that  the  leaders 
in  those  movements  which  consolidated  the  political  inde- 
pendence of  Mexico  accepted  the  principle  that  the  people 
should  be  educated,  it  can  not  be  said  that  they  concerned 
themselves  immediately  and  actively  with  this  undertaking. 
Their  first  problem  was  the  political  one.  That  was  both 
intense  and  urgent.  They  were  unconscious  themselves  of 
how  contradictory  were  their  theories,  and  the  facts  with 
which  they  had  to  deal.  Led  by  a  natural  and  innocent 
enthusiasm,  they  were  bent  upon  following  the  successful 
example  of  the  United  States,  and  establishing  a  universal 
dem.ocracy.  They  even  went  so  far  as  to  model  their  con- 
stitution by  ours,  providing  for  a  federation  of  sovereign 
states.  The  American  Constitution  grew  out  of  the  voluntary 
association  of  such  states,  political  entities  that  had  had  a 
pre\aous  separate  existence.  The  Mexican  states,  as  framed 
under  the  new  constitution,  had  had  no  such  history.  In  a 
general  and  loose  way  as  provinces  of  the  larger  colony  of  New 
Spain,  or  as  dioceses  in  Church  government,  they  had  ex- 
perienced a  quasi-separation  from  each  other.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  vice-regal  government  had  always  been  strongly, 
even  autocratically,  centralized.  For  such  a  situation  the 
American  Constitution,  a  compromise  document,  qualified  by 
the  mutual  jealousies  of  all  the  component  English  colonies, 
and  with  difficulty  agreed  to  even  then,  was  a  manifest  misfit. 

Equally  obvious  was  the  gap  between  purpose  and  realiza- 
tion when  sovereign  citizenship  and  the  responsibility  for  self- 


< 


government  were  in  theory  conferred  upon  an  illiterate  and 
untrained  mass  of  five  millions  of  people.  A  very  large  propor- 
tion of  them  were  serfs.  Though  freed  from  the  authority  of 
the  Spanish  Crown,  they  were  still  under  the  heel  of  land- 
owners and  mine  bosses.  Three  hundred  years  of  virtual 
slavery  had  induced  in  them  the  servile  type  of  mind.  They 
were  contentedly  ignorant.  They  were  instinctively  submis- 
sive. Their  religion  was  a  crass  superstition.  They  had  no 
intellectual  life,  no  mental  stimulus,  no  aspirations.  If  this 
had  been  true  merely  of  a  small  proportion  of  the  total  popula- 
tion, it  might  not  have  been  held  serious.  But  the  proportion 
was  large,  not  small;  it  was  preponderant;  it  was  well  nigh 
the  whole. 

Almost  instantly,  moreover,  the  matter  of  the  enlighten- 
ment and  training  of  this  ill-prepared  citizenship  was  forced 
into  the  background  by  acute  friction  among  the  leaders  over 
politics.  The  country  had  been  trained  for  centuries  to 
centralized  government,  usually  an  autocratic  one.  The 
idealists  had  wished  to  get  away  from  the  evils  of  this  system, 
and  so  the  new  constitution  called  for  a  federation.  It  was 
adopted — the  first  one,  of  1824 — as  a  rebound  from  the  auto- 
cratic monarchy  which  Iturbide  had  attempted  to  set  up. 
From  that  day  to  this,  from  the  close  of  the  first  constitutional 
president's  term  in  1828  to  the  revolution  of  1913,  the  struggle 
between  Centralists  and  Federalists  has  contributed  it  full 
share  to  the  political  problems  of  Mexico.  The  two  parties 
have  at  times  taken  other  names,  and  have  had,  both  of  them, 
many  affiliations  and  associates,  but  they  remain  substantially 
the  same.  There  was  much  of  right  and  of  reason  on  both 
sides.  One  may  well  regret  that  the  early  governmental 
schedules  did  not  make  provision  for  some  recognition  of  such 
political  training  as  the  Mexican  people  had  hitherto  received, 
instead  of  following  too  closely  standards  set  up  elsewhere 
under  wholly  different  conditions.  Yet  it  must  be  admitted, 
after  all,  that  the  difficulties  with  which  the  Mexicans  had  to 
contend  were  inherent.  It  was  impossible  that  out  of  elements 
there  existing  a  free  people  should  be  brought  into  being 
without  travail. 

34 


Mexico's  troubles  did  not  cease  with  independence.  Her 
people  had  to  be  freed  from  other  restraints  besides  the  polit- 
ical power  of  Spain.  The  dominion  of  ignorance  and  super- 
stition had  to  be  broken,  and  the  thralldom  of  an  intolerable 
industrial  system  annihilated.  The  Church  and  the  Army 
from  the  first  instinctively  allied  themselves  with  the  centraliz- 
ing tendencies.  In  this  they  were  backed  by  the  wealthy  and 
aristocratic  elements  in  the  population.  Against  this  puissant 
combination  of  spiritual,  military,  and  financial  powers,  the 
people,  like  a  blind  and  helpless,  but  tremendously  vital  giant, 
have  stiniggled  for  a  hundred  years.  It  is  human  nature  to 
cling  to  one's  possessions,  and  Church  and  Army  and  land- 
holders alike  held  on  tenaciously  to  the  special  privileges  that 
had  come  to  them  in  the  days  of  royalty  and  favoritism.  It 
was  forty  years  after  independence  came,  for  example,  before 
the  attempt  to  have  a  State  Church,  intolerant  of  all  others, 
was  abandoned.  For  nearly  the  same  length  of  time  the 
clergy  and  the  military  had  special  courts  of  their  own  {jueros,) 
and  were  not  amenable  to  the  ordinary  courts  of  the  land. 
For  the  perpetuation  of  these  privileges  they  fought  bitterly. 
Yet  all  the  time  the  patriots  were  struggling  to  inaugurate 
equality  before  the  law.  * 

This  effort  to  have  a  State  Church  in  a  free  republic  serves 
well  as  an  illustration  of  how  slowly  the  Mexicans  themselves 
came  to  understand  the  inherent  contradictions  between  their 
program  and  their  situation.  Other  examples  are  not  wanting. 
And  meantime  the  evils  of  that  situation  were  at  work.  No 
group,  for  example,  would  openly  oppose  the  education  of  the 
people.  Yet  it  could  not  have  been  concealed  from  the  party 
of  privilege  that  once  the  common  people  were  led  out  of  this 
stupor  of  helpless  ignorance,  they  would  also  be  clothed  with 
power  to  achieve  their  ideals.  Hence,  as  may  easily  be  inferred, 
when  the  Centralists  were  in  power,  not  much  progress  was 
made  in  developing  popular  education.     And  since  that  party 

*Indeed,  in  a  real  sense  this  has  not  been  a  popular  contest.  "The  people"  as  a  social  entity, 
with  a  social  conscience,  does  not  exist  in  Mexico.  Such  measure  of  liberty  and  equality  as  has 
come  to  its  inhabitants  is  the  result  of  a  long  and  weary  struggle  among  strong,  audacious 
leaders,  few  in  number,  frequently  misinformed,  and  seldom  displaying  any  unity  of  purpose 
among  themselves.  Yet,  up  to  1910,  they  had  achieved  considerable  progress  in  organizing 
a  certain  type  of  government,  roughly  adapted  to  the  genius  of  the  people,  and  in  developing 
the  material  resources  of  the  country. — E.  A.  C. 

35 


naturally  gathered  unto  itself  the  enlightened  elements  of  the 
population,  the  men  who  had  had  experience  in  holding  office 
and  who  had  studied  the  science  of  government,  while 
their  opponents  were  for  the  most  part  crudely  trained,  drawn 
from  the  mass  of  Indians  and  mestizos,  men  who  had  forged 
their  way  upward  from  the  lower  stratum  of  society,  nothing 
was  more  natural  than  that  for  a  good  many  years  the  Centralists 
should  be  in  power  miost  of  the  time.  They  held  the  upper 
hand  till  there  was  time  for  the  training  of  a  generation  in  the 
hard  school  of  experience.  A  thoughtful  Mexican  historian 
explains  the  fact  that  the  liberals  were  so  long  in  the  minority 
by  the  skill  with  which  their  opponents  made  every  issue  a 
religious  question.  The  people,  devoted  as  they  were  to  the 
Church,  were  most  reluctant  to  take  sides  against  the  Church 
leaders^  or  to  help  a  party  which,  as  those  leaders  assured  them, 
was  bent  upon  the  destruction  of  religion  itself. 

During  those  decades,  instead  of  adjusting  themselves  to 
the  situation,  and  incorporating  into  their  program  enough  of 
popular  measures  to  hold  the  good  will  of  the  masses,  and  to 
deprive  their  opponents  of  weapons  with  v/hich  to  fight  them, 
the  C-^ntralists — with  the  usual  fatuousness  of  people  of  that 
type — ^went  quite  to  the  contrary  extreme.  The  absurd 
constitution  of  1836,  the  repeated  dictatorships  of  Santa  Anna, 
the  arrogance  of  the  army,  the  loss  of  Texas  and  the  fiasco  of 
the  American  war,  together  with  gross  financial  wastefulness, 
the  neglect  of  public  works,  and  the  impoverishment  of  an 
already  exhausted  country,  culminating  at  last  in  the  crowning 
treason  of  bringing  in  a  foreign  potentate — all  this  laid  up  for 
them  a  heavy  score  to  be  paid  off  when  the  day  of  reckoning 
came.  That  day  moved  inevitably  onward,  a  veritable  dies 
irae.  Juarez,  the  little  Indian,  personification  of  native  Mexico, 
with  his  little  cabinet  of  the  inmaculados  (stainless),  and  his 
ragged  regimen t»  of  volunteers,  was  the  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  long-delayed  but  inevitable  Justice. 

While  the  long  struggle  was  under  way,  the  popular  party 
saw  as  clearly  as  did  their  opponents,  that  the  education  of  the 
people  was  the  one  step  which  would  guarantee  the  triumph  of 
genuine  democracy.  Their  leaders  are  on  record  again  and 
again  as  laying  down  this  principle;  and  in  the  brief  intervals 

36 


when  they  had  control,  measures  were  repeatedly  taken  in 
the  interest  of  education.  But  those  intervals  of  power  were 
infrequent  and  brief.  In  two  outline  histories  of  education 
during  the  nineteenth  century,  one  covering  the  State  of 
Jalisco  and  the  other  that  of  Nuevo  Leon,  time  and  again  the 
authors,  after  detailing  plans  that  had  been  laid  out,  laws  that 
had  been  passed,  the  personnel  even  of  the  teaching  force  that 
had  been  nominated,  mournfully  remark  that  all  these  provi- 
sions became  ineffective  at  a  certain  date  because  of  changes  in 
the  political  situation.  The  hardships  endured  by  many  men, 
in  all  sections  of  the  Republic,  who  felt  themselves  called  to 
this  work  of  educating  the  people,  and  who  persisted  in  their 
attempt  to  be  obedient  to  this  high  calling,  no  matter  what 
happened  in  politics  and  public  affairs,  make  a  chapter  of 
heroism  that  the  future  historian  of  Mexico  will  dwell  upon 
with  just  pride. 

Another  factor,  in  addition  to  the  perennial  political  dis- 
turbances, affected  profoundly  the  development  of  public 
education.  This  was  the  poverty  of  the  public  treasury. 
The  constant  shifting  of  the  political  center  of  gravity  caused 
frequent  armed  conflicts.  These  brought  their  inevitable 
accompaniments  of  ineffective  policing,  of  neglected  agri- 
culture and  diminished  cornm.erce,  and  of  the  absorption  of 
all  available  men  into  the  armies,  and  of  all  available  funds  into 
the  war  treasury.  "Military  necessity"  was  often  a  pretext 
for  robbery,  and  first  one  party  and  then  the  other  harried  the 
country,  carr^dng  off  grain  and  livestock,  robbing  convoys  of 
bulKon,  frightening  capital  into  hiding,  and  in  numerous  other 
ways  reducing  a  country  naturally  rich  in  resources  to  a  state 
of  abject  penury.  This  condition  was  the  rule  rather  than  the 
exception  during  the  entire  sixty  years  from  1820  to  1880. 
The  shifts  to  which  the  military  and  political  leaders  were 
driven  to  finance  their  movements,  especially  those  of  the 
popular  or  liberal  party,  who,  to  begin  with,  represented  the 
side  of  poverty  as  against  wealth,  are  only  equalled  by  the 
misery  in  which  these  continuous  revolutions  left  the  people 
at  large.  Cities,  hoxiendas,  and  churches,  were  stripped  of 
every  form  of  visible  v/ealth.  Silver  ornaments  were  melted 
down,  and  coined  into  money,  jewelry  and  precious  stones 

37 


were  sold,  lead  was  molded  into  bullets,  steel  was  beaten  into 
weapons,  bells  became  cannon,  grain  was  commandeered  for 
the  commissary.     The  whole  land  was  peeled  again  and  again. 

Naturally,  when  the  national  treasury  itself  was  empty  the 
separate  states  were  still  worse  off.  The  state  organizations 
were  the  plaything  of  national  politics.  The  Federalists  set 
them  up  in  due  form  and  order;  the  Centralists  in  their  turn 
upset  and  even  abolished  them,  or,  at  least,  subordinated  them 
completely  to  the  central  Government.  Since,  following  still 
the  example  of  the  United  States,  the  matter  of  education  had 
[been  left  wholly  to  the  initiative  of  the  several  states,  this 
uncertainty,  this  precariousness  of  tenure,  on  the  part  of  the 
state  governments,  affected  most  disastrously  the  interests  of 
education.  One  might  expect,  however,  that  during  the  long 
permanence  in  power  of  the  Centralist  party,  some  measures, 
by  way  of  pretext,  at  least,  for  the  education  of  the  people 
would  have  been  devised  by  the  general  Government.  The 
only  instance  would  seem  to  be  the  law  of  1842,  referred  to 
below.  For  the  leaders  of  the  Centralist  party  had  been 
trained  in  the  school  of  Spanish  politics.  They  apparently  wer^ 
not  sure  that  the  common  people  needed  education.  Subcon- 
sciously they  felt  also  no  doubt,  as  already  suggested,  that  the 
education  of  the  masses  would  be  disastrous  to  their  favorite 
policies  and  would  jeopardize  their  tenure  of  power. 

As  for  the  states,  another  element  of  uncertainty  was 
introduced  into  educational  endeavor,  during  the  intervals 
when  the  states  were  permitted  to  exercise  a  reasonable  measure 
of  autonomy,  and  that  was  the  division  of  responsibility  for 
the  schools  between  the  state  governments  and  the  munici- 
palities. Partly  to  follow  still  the  theory  of  local  self-govern- 
ment, but  even  more  because  the  poverty  of  their  treasuries 
made  them  helpless,  the  state  authorities  from  time  to  time 
tried  the  experiment  of  leaving  education  wholly  to  the  munici- 
pal governments.  These  municipios  are  in  conception  some- 
what like  the  early  New  England  "towns."  They  comprise 
rural  districts  along  with  the  central  settlement.  Naturally, 
nothing  was  gained  by  this  device.  If  the  state  was  poor, 
the  municipalities  were  poorer.  They  had  only  the  scantiest 
funds  for  an  undertaking  that  seemed  to  them  colossal.     More- 

38 


over,  the  schools  thus  handled  were  without  the  supervision 
of  experts  from  the  central  office  of  the  state,  and  only  in  the 
capitals  and  other  larger  cities  were  men  to  be  found  capable 
of  taking  the  management  of  such  work.  In  spite  of  excellent 
theories,  therefore,  and  in  the  face  of  a  constantly  growing  and 
urgent  popular  demand — and  this  was  something  really  new, 
a  by-product  of  the  long-drawn  struggle  for  freedom — educa- 
tion languished.* 


*A  definite  instance  of  this  sort  occurred  in  Coahuila  and  Texas  when,  in  1833,  the  legislative 
body  of  that  dual  state  provided  that  the  various  municipalities  were  to  sell  the  public  property 
within  their  limits  and  use  the  funds  for  the  establishment  of  primary  schools.  Moreover, 
all  vacant  property  was  to  revert  to  the  sta,te  and  be  used  for  a  similar  purpose.  Yet  no 
substantial  improvement  followed  this  legislation.     Cf.  Cox,  op.  cit.  39,  40. 

Senor  Chavez  reports  that  under  the  Diaz  government  the  Secretaria  de  Instrucci6n  Publica 
y  Bellas  Artes  often  received  requests  for  aid  from  "scantily-settled  communities  where  the 
scholastic  population  was  so  sparse  as  to  make  the  maintenance  of  a  school  most  difficult." 
These  requests  for  the  foundation  of  schools  by  the  general  Government  sometimes  came  from 
communities  outside  the  federal  district  and  were  accompanied  by  offers  of  small  buildings 
and  other  properties  for  school  purposes.  This  desire  to  co-operate,  so  far  as  its  scanty  resources 
permitted,  was  also  manifested  by  the  Mexican  authorities  of  San  Antonio  in  the  period  men- 
tioned above. — I.  J.  C. 

39 


/ 


VI  —  DEVELOPMENTS,  1821-1867 


u 


Summary 

The  first  of  these  dates,  1821,  marks  the  achievement  of  independence, 
the  second  the  triumph  of  republicanism.  Since  the  second,  1867,  education 
in  Mexico  has  assumed  its  modern  form,  as  obligatoria,  gratuita,  y  laica — 
compulsory,  free,  and  secular. 

A  long  series  of  revolutions  began  in  1829.  Early  legislation  was 
obliterated  by  them.  Use  has  been  made  of  a  history  of  education  in  Jalisco, 
and  of  a  similar  history  for  Nuevo  Leon.  One  development  of  the  early 
movements  was  a  reawakening  on  the  part  of  Church  leaders.  Education 
was  still  in  their  hands  during  the  early  decades.  Nuevo  Leon  issued  its 
constitution  in  1825,  providing  for  public  education  as  a  duty  of  the  state. 
The  legislature  formulated  a  law  which  was  passed  February,  1826.  This 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  instances  of  providing  for  compulsory 
education.  Insufficient  fiscal  provisions  marked  the  laws  of  the  first 
decade.  Jalisco,  also,  passed  good  laws.  About  this  time  the  Lancasterian 
system  was  introduced.  It  suited  a  situation  where  funds  and  teachers 
were  scarce.  The  system  was  adopted  by  the  Federal  Government,  and 
gradually  spread  through  all  the  states.  In  those  same  years  came  the 
development  of  the  Institutos.  These  were  remnants  usually  of  the  faculties 
of  letters  and  philosophy  of  the  old  Church  universities.  Now  they  became 
j  state  schools.  They  were  liberal  and  furnished  centers  for  men  of  liberal 
/  ideas  and  propensities.  French  thought  had  begun  to  affect  the  life  of 
Mexico.  Through  its  acceptance  in  the  institutos  it  reached  directly  the 
educated  men,  and  through  them  the  educational  system.  Controversies 
with  Rome  over  patronage  started  a  movement  for  separation  between 
Church  and  State.  Radical  proposals  were  made  as  early  as  1833.  The 
Church  resisted,  and  called  in  the  army.  Fueros  were  attacked.  The 
next  twenty  years  (1833-1853)  the  Government  was  most  of  the  time  Cen- 
I  tralist.  Only  one  educational  move  was  made  at  headquarters,  and  this, 
I  an  executive  order  of  Santa  Anna  in  1842,  proved  abortive.  Lopez  Cotilla 
was  an  apostle  of  education  in  Jalisco.  Santa  Anna's  dictatorship  in 
1|9-$4  brought  on  revolution.  The  Republicans  undertook  radical  reforms 
and  adopted  the  constitution  of  1857.  Resistance  by  the  clericals  brought 
on  the  Three  Years'  War  and  the  Leyes  de  Reforma.  The  final  breach 
between  the  Church  party  and  the  people  came  when  the  clericals  supported 
the  French  Intervention.  The  reform  laws  had  a  wide-reaching  effect. 
The  confiscation  of  Church  property  was  justified  by  those  responsible, 
because  of  the  interference  of  the  clericals,  and  by  reason  of  the  needs  of 
the  liberal  government.  All  this  resulted  in  a  radical  change  of  educational 
\^  standards.  The  Church  was  no  longer  looked  to  for  public  education. 
The  State  accepted  this  task  as  a  duty  and  a  responsibility. 

40 


THE  above  dates  are  chosen  because  the  first  marks  the 
achievement  of  pohtical  freedom  from  Spain,  and  the 
second  the  final  vindication  of  the  RepubHc,  upon  the 
ehmination  of  MaximiKan  and  the  French  troops.  The  epoch 
is  a  well-marked  period.  During  those  four  and  a  half  decades 
the  republican  ideal  gradually  unfolded  itself.  The  educational 
standard  was  evolved  along  with  the  rest.  By  the  time  Juarez 
was  at  last  firmly  seated  as  constitutional  President  (1868),  he 
and  his  associates  had  begun  to  see  clearly — what  had  hitherto 
appeared  to  them  but  fitfully  and  dimly — that,  as  it  came  to  be 
expressed,  education  was  the  duty  of  the  state  (including  the 
municipality)  and  should  be  obligatoria,  gratuita,  y  laica — 
compulsory,  free,  and  secular.  In  other  words,  it  was  recog- 
nized that  the  community  was  under  obligation  to  supply  tax- 
supported  schools,  and  the  parents  under  obligation  to  send 
their  children  to  them;  and  that  the  theory  long  accepted  that 
the  Church  could  be  depended  on  to  supply  public  education, 
or,  failing  to  do  so,  that  the  instruction  given  by  the  state 
could  and  should  be  distinctively  religious,  was  untenable. 
Since  we,  at  the  very  beginning  of  our  national  life,  grappled 
with  the  problem  of  separating  Church  and  State,  confusion 
over  the  matter  of  religion  in  the  public  schools  has  in  our 
country  been  a  secondary  matter.  But  in  Mexico,  the  Church 
had  had  for  hundreds  of  years  entire  control  of  education,  even 
of  that  supported  by  taxation  (which  was  not  a  great  matter, 
to  be  sure).  It  was  most  natural,  therefore,  that  it  should  take 
time  for  the  people  to  come  to  see  clearly  the  distinction  between 
a  church  school  and  a  public  school.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
during  those  earlier  years  of  the  Republic,  when  the  con- 
servative and  centralist  influences  were  most  of  the  time  in 
control  of  the  Government,  clerics  continued  to  be  the  leaders 
in  educational  work.  The  little  that  was  done  in  the  direction 
of  building  up  a  public  school  system  followed  the  time-honored 
custom  of  identifying  the  schools  with  the  monasteries  and 
convents,  and  relying  almost  wholly  on  the  religious  orders 
and  secular  clergy  for  teachers. 

The  fleeting  ''empire''  of  Iturbide  produced,  so  far  as  the 
writer  has  been  able  to  ascertain,  no  educational  movement. 
Imt  when  following  it  the  republicans  had  their  turn,  they 

41 


embodied  their  noble  and  progressive  aspirations  in  the  Federal 
Constitution  of  1824,  in  the  rapidly  succeeding  state  constitu- 
tions which  were  based  upon  it,  and  in  the  statutes  and  execu- 
tive orders  which  everywhere  came  in  a  shower  to  complete 
and  make  effective  this  organic  legislation.  Education  was 
given  the  place  of  honor.  Some  state  constitutions  even  went 
into  particulars  as  to  both  principles  and  plans.  Most  of 
them,  however,  stopped  with  laying  down  principles,  leaving 
details  to  be  worked  out  in  legislative  statutes. 

The  state  congresses  and  executives  did  not  delay  to  comply 
with  this  obligation.  Everywhere  educational  programs  were 
framed,  systems  of  schools  were  laid  out,  courses  of  study  were 
formulated.  One  reads  today  this  elaborate  legislation  of 
nearly  a  hundred  years  ago  with  mingled  feelings.  It  is 
admirable.  It  is  surprising.  There  were  educational  seers  in 
those  days,  men  of  prophetic  vision.  They  had  gathered 
suggestions  and  inspiration  from  all  quarters.  They  were 
absolutely  open-minded.  Their  limitations  were  entirely  those 
of  their  time  and  conditions.  In  the  law  promulgated  by  the 
State  of  Nuevo  Leon,  for  example,  the  principle  of  compulsory 
attendance  at  school  is  distinctly  laid  down;  and  1826  is  a  very 
early  date  in  the  history  of  this  phase  of  public  education. 

But  for  all  that,  the  legislation  did  not  "march."  In  1829 
began  the  long  series  of  revolutions.  The  progressive  and 
patriotic  party  was  forced  to  yield  control  of  the  central  govern- 
ment, and  the  conservatives,  once  in  power,  lost  no  time  in 
bringing  also  the  several  states  into  alignment.  All  these 
elaborate  and  promising  provisions  for  the  education  of  the 
people  went  then  to  the  scrap-pile,  along  with  most  other 
elements  of  the  liberal  program.  Those  early  educational  laws 
have  now  about  them  an  atmosphere  of  pathos.  It  seems  too 
bad  that  what  promised  so  well  should  have  come  to  naught. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  legislation  in  the  State  of 
Nuevo  Leon.  I  have  had,  also,  before  me  a  history  of  primary 
education  in  Jalisco.  The  story  there  is  almost  identical.  No 
doubt,  the  archives  of  many  other  states,  if  searched,  would 
disclose  substantially  the  same  history.    Zacatecas,  for  example, 

42 


has  long  been  known  as  a  leader  in  educational  matters,  as 
have  been,  also,  Veracruz,  Coahuila,  and  others.* 

Following  the  effervescence  of  laws,  projects  (proyectos), 
and  programs  during  the  quadrennium  1824-28,  came  a  period 
of  quiescence.  There  were  many  resolute  spirits,  however, 
who  had  consecrated  themselves  to  the  work  of  teaching,  and 
who  were  not  greatly  concerned  with  politics.  These  kept  on 
with  their  propaganda,  and  the  subject  was  not  allowed  to 
lapse.  Some  of  the  Church  leaders,  also,  unwilling  to  forego 
the  long  ascendancy  which  they  had  enjoyed  in  teaching, 
bestirred  themselves  anew.  For  several  years  all  legislation 
or  official  action  of  any  kind  that  was  taken  with  reference  to 
education  reverted  to  the  colonial  type  in  placing  the  work  of 
teaching  in  their  hands.  One  interesting  and  unique  incident 
was  a  provision  in  some  of  the  states  for  Sunday  schools. 
These  schools,  to  be  held  on  Sundays  and  other  feast  days, 
were  for  the  training  of  adults,  as  well  as  children,  but  were 
limited  specifically  to  the  teaching  of  reading  and  writing. 
Prizes  were  offered  to  the  teachers  who  could  show  a  certain 
number  of  "graduates"  in  these  branches.  This  was  one 
effort  to  m.ake  up  for  the  neglect  of  educational  affairs  shown 
by  the  Church  leaders  during  the  Spanish  regime.  So  rare 
was  the  ability  to  read  and  write  at  the  time  of  the  revolution 
that  when  the  government  of  Iturbide  sought  men  for  appoint- 
ment as  the  chief  officers  of  municipalities,  it  is  related  on  good 
authority  that  there  were  towns  of  ten  and  twelve  thousand 
inhabitants  without  a  single  man  able  to  write. 

Before  dismissing  from  our  consideration  the  educational 
ideals  with  which  the  Mexican  Republic  began  its  history — 


*The  decree  of  the  constitutional  congress  of  the  state  of  Coahuila  and  Texas,  May  13,  1829, 
provided  for  the  establishment  of  schools  on  the  Lancasterian  plan,  in  the  capital  of  each  of 
the  three  departments  into  which  the  state  was  di\aded.  These  schools,  restricted  to  150 
pupils  each,  were  not  free  to  all,  but  the  separate  municipal  councils  could  maintain  a  limited 
niunber  of  pupils  in  each  school  at  public  expense,  and  loan  money  to  the  general  school  fund, 
in  special  emergencies.  A  comprehensive  plan  to  raise  money  for  the  school  fund  was  adopted 
and  measures  taken  to  provide  adequate  salaries  for  the  teachers.  Instruction  was  to  be 
given  in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  the  dogma  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and  all  of  Ackerman's 
"Catechisms  of  Arts  and  Sciences."  In  the  following  year  the  plan  was  modified  so  as  to 
provide  for  primary  schools,  the  stipendium  for  teachers  was  considerably  reduced,  and  a  system 
of  "rewards  of  virtue  and  application"  introduced.  Despite  the  good  intentions  back  of  these 
decrees,  the  absolute  lack  of  funds  prevented  their  realization.  Cf.  Cox,  op.  cit.  36-39. — 
I.  J.  C. 


those  plans  which  for  so  long  went  without  realization — in 
order  that  we  may  take  up  the  further  course  of  the  history  of 
education  there,  it  will  be  worth  while,  perhaps,  to  review 
briefly  the  specific  provisions  then  made.  They  have  been 
indicated  hitherto  in  only  a  desultory  way.  Details  are  given 
of  the  legislative  provisions  and  executive  orders  in  Nuevo  Leon 
and  Jalisco  only.  Their  similarity  will  at  once  be  noted,  and 
it  may  be  inferred  that  they  constitute  a  fair  type  of  what  took 
place  generally  throughout  the  Republic. 

From  the  concise  and  admirable  Historical  Review  of  Public 
Education  in  Nuevo  Leon  (Resena  Historica  de  la  Instruccion 
Puhlica  en  Nuevo  Leon),  written  twenty  years  ago  by  an  able 
and  honored  representative  of  the  teaching  profession  (pro- 
fesorado)  of  Mexico,  Professor  Miguel  F.  Martinez,  are  taken 
the  following  particulars.  The  Federal  Constitution  having 
been  proclaimed  October  4,  1824,  the  people  of  Nuevo  Leon 
made  haste  to  issue  their  state  constitution,  which  was  adopted 
March  5,  1825.  Article  230,  section  10,  of  this  instrument 
declared  that  it  was  obligatory  upon  city  governments  to 
''promote  the  proper  education  of  the  young,  to  establish 
endowed  schools  of  primary  grade,  to  see  to  the  due  conserva- 
tion and  right  government  of  those  already  in  existence, 
respecting  always  the  rights  of  individuals  or  corporations." 
(Endowment  here  could  scarcely  have  meant  invested  funds.) 
Section  12,  of  the  same  Article,  laid  upon  the  memxbers  of  these 
same  municipal  governing  bodies  the  duty  of  ''visiting  the 
schools  weekly,  in  order  to  inform  themselves  of  their  condition 
and  progress,  such  special  attention  being  warranted  by  their 
importance." 

In  Article  257  the  same  constitution  even  went  into  details 
as  to  the  course  of  study  for  primary  schools.  It  ordered  that 
in  all  villages  of  the  state  primary  schools  should  be  established 
in  which  should  "be  taught  reading,  writing,  the  principles  of 
numbers,  the  catechism  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  a  summary 
explanation  of  the  duties  of  citizenship." 

Still  another  Article,  259,  ordered  the  state  legislature  to 
formulate  "a  general  governing  plan  for  public  instruction"  to 
obtain  throughout  the  state,  based  upon  "a  simple  and  practi- 
cable method,  properly  adjusted  to  existing  conditions." 

44 


One  year  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  February, 
1826,  the  legislature  issued  as  Provisional  Act  No.  73  the  plan 
pro\aded  for.  It  is  divided  into  three  parts:  1.  General  Pro- 
visions; 2.  Primary  Instruction;  3.  Secondary  Instruction. 
Among  the  General  Regulations  is  found  one  already  referred 
to,  which  affirms  (Art.  4) :  * 'Parents  who  through  poverty  can 
not  teach  or  have  taught  their  children  and  servants  at  home 
their  Christian  and  civic  duties,  and  to  read  and  to  write,  shall 
be  required  to  send  them  to  the  public  schools,  such  exemption 
being  made  as  the  proper  authority  may  permit  in  case  they  are 
needed  on  farm  or  ranch  or  other  productive  work."  Mr. 
Martinez  is  disposed  to  claim  on  this  basis,  and  with  apparent 
justice,  that  compulsory  education  in  Xuevo  Leon  dates  from 
the  year  1826.  He  admits  that  the  law  failed  to  provide  for 
the  enforcement  of  this  obligation,  and  that  the  law  itself  was 
in  force  as  such  but  a  few  years.*  It  stands  still,  however,  as 
a  tribute  to  the  ideals  of  the  m^en  of  that  early  day. 

Our  author  gives  at  some  length  the  provisions  for  primary 
schools.  The  course  of  studies  was  so  elaborate  and  so  modem, 
that  compared  with  that  agreed  upon  at  the  First  National 
Congress  on  Education  held  in  1889,  a  curriculum  that  was 
practically  universal  in  the  Republic  at  the  time  Mr.  Martinez 
wrote  (1894),  only  five  items  were  lacking,  viz.: ''lessons  of 
things,  metric  system,  bookkeeping,  political  economiy,  and 
choral  singing."  But  there  were  three  of  genuine  value  in  the 
early  course  that  were  wanting  in  that  of  1889,  namely  horti- 
culture, agriculture,  and  rifle-firing.  Special  emphasis  was 
given  to  manual  training  and  domestic  arts,  especially  in  the 
course  for  girls.  In  1829  this  Provisional  Statute  No.  73  was 
given  the  full  force  of  law.  Special  provisions  applying  to 
the  districts  of  the  State  had  already  been  passed,  requiring  the 
municipalities  to  see  that  schools  were  provided  even  in  the 
smallest  settlements  (rancherias) — Mexico  has  no  strictly  rural 
population — and  demanding  again  that  the  municipal  author- 
ities see  to  it  that  parents  whose  children  roamed  the  streets 


*For  a  similar  condition  in  the  neighboring  state  of  Coahuila  and  Texas,  cf.  Cox,  op.  cit. 
36-40.  In  this  state  the  authorities  continued  to  express  their  sentiments  on  the  subject  of 
education  as  late  as  1834.  In  his  message  of  that  year  the  governor  wished  to  arouse  the 
parents  of  the  state  to  the  necessity  of  educating  their  children,  "in  order  to  banish  the  chaos 
of  ignorance  in  which  the  greater  part  of  the  communities  lie."  Coahuila  and  Texas  resisted 
the  centralizing  policy  of  Santa  Anna  long  after  other  regions  had  submitted. — I.  J.  C. 

45 


should  be  compelled  to  send  them  to  school  or  to  put  them  to 
work. 

Unfortunately  the  force  of  the  legislation  spent  itself  in 
theoretical  plans.  No  definite  provision  was  made  for  financing 
the  system.  It  seems  all  the  way  to  have  been  expected  that 
the  municipal  governments  would  assume  the  financial  burden. 
But  they  were  poor,  and  their  taxing  authority  limited.  In 
the  absence  of  specific  orders  the  thing  went  by  default.  It 
was  this  failure  more  than  anything  else  which  made  the 
disappearance  of  the  whole  enterprise  follow  so  easily  upon  a 
shift  in  the  political  situation.  Had  fiscal  provisions  been 
made,  and  a  definite  body  and  continuity  been  thus  com- 
municated to  the  educational  movement,  its  momentum  would 
have  carried  it  forward,  and  the  men  who  succeeded  to  power 
would  have  thought  twice  before  laying  violent  hands  upon  it. 
Left  unsupported,  it  fell  by  its  own  weight,  or  speaking  more 
exactly,  it  never  had  any  but  a  theoretical  and  paper  existence. 

Sixteen  years  after  the  issue  of  the  Review  prepared  by 
Professor  Martinez  came  the  centenary  of  national  independ- 
ence, celebrated  in  1910.  In  commemoration  of  the  event. 
Professor  Manuel  R.  Alatorre,  at  the  time  School  Inspector  for 
the  State,  prepared  that  year  a  history  of  primary  education 
in  Jalisco,  from  1810  to  1910.  This  excellent  monograph 
compared  with  that  of  Mr.  Martinez  exhibits  strikingly  the 
similarity  of  conditions  throughout  the  Republic.  As  in 
Nuevo  Leon,  there  was  in  Jalisco  the  beginning  out  of  nothing 
-^  under  the  liberal  regime  1824-28,  followed  by  the  same  sudden 
lapse  at  the  end  of  that  period,  due  to  political  changes  and 
inadequate  financing,  the  same  indomitable  persistence  by 
devoted  teachers,  the  same  semi-revival  through  a  renewed 
coalition  with  the  Church  leaders,  the  same  final  eclipse  of  the 
liberal  educational  plans  under  the  selfish  and  illiberal  admin- 
istration of  Santa  Anna.  As  an  older  and  better  organized 
"Intendencia,"  Jalisco  had  had  in  colonial  days  an  educational 
development  somewhat  in  advance  of  those  of  the  border  State 
of  Nuevo  Leon.  Yet  after  the  storm  of  the  revolution  there 
was  little  left  on  which  to  build.  The  City  of  Guadalajara,  as 
early  as  1821,  undertook  to  open  a  primary  school  supported  by 
city  funds.     Immediately  after  the  consummation  of  national 

46 


independence,  Jalisco  became  a  sovereign  state,  having  a 
population  of  half  a  million  inhabitants.  Its  constitution, 
adopted  in  November,  1824,  ordered  that  primary  schools 
should  be  established  in  every  village  of  the  state,  and  that 
the  legislature  should  provide  a  state-wide  educational  law. 

At  the  request  of  the  legislature,  the  fu-st  Governor,  Don 
Prisciliano  Sanchez,  had  a  law  drafted,  and  on  March  26,  1826, 
the  bill  was  passed  by  that  body.  It  provided  that  official 
education  should  be  ''pubhc,  free,  and  uniform,"  allowing 
private  schools  to  be  freely  conducted,  with  only  such  inspection 
as  would  safeguard  against  infraction  of  the  laws.  Public 
instruction  was  to  be  divided  into  four  classes — one  class  for 
the  villages,  one  for  the  larger  towns,  one  for  the  department 
capitals,  and  one  for  the  state  capital.  The  law  appears  to  be 
rather  a  jumble  as  to  requirements,  as  these  classes,  though 
grading  upward  by  reason  of  the  additions  to  the  course  of 
study,  were  also  to  be  distinguished  by  the  amount  of  the 
salaries  paid  to  teachers.  It  exhibits  a  striking  instance  of 
the  effect  of  old  and  powerful  social  inheritances,  in  that 
different  classes  of  society  had  different  classes  of  schools. 
The  conception  that  some  elements  of  the  population  were 
better  and  deserved  more  of  the  Government  than  others  died 
hard. 

This  JaHsco  plan  also  placed  the  whole  financial  burden  of 
the  schools  on  the  municipalities.  So  there,  as  in  Nuevo  Leon 
and  elsewhere,  two  giant  difficulties  stood  in  the  way — ^the 
lack  of  funds,  and  the  lack  of  teachers.  Nevertheless,  mutual 
sacrifices  made  by  municipal  governments,  and  by  such  teachers 
as  could  be  had,  resulted  in  the  opening  of  numerous  primary 
schools  throughout  the  state.  The  teachers  were  poorly  paid, 
and  they  were  inefficient,  but  a  beginning  was  made. 

Schools  could  not,  of  course,  be  conducted  without  teachers 
and  without  funds  to  support  them.  As  one  examines  the 
elaborate  provisions  for  courses  of  study,  discipline,  organiza- 
tion, etc.,  which  characterize  this  early  legislation,  and  recalls 
how  it  all  fell  to  the  ground  for  want  of  these  prime  necessities, 
he  gets  the  impression  that  it  was  the  work  of  theorists.  These 
men  were  so  busy  with  their  dream  of  a  perfect  system  of  schools 

47 


that  they  did  not  stop  to  make  the  practical  provisions  necessary 
for  carrying  on  any  kind  of  a  school. 

At  this  juncture,  when  the  hopelessness  of  the  situation  had 
been  demonstrated  by  a  few  years  of  actual  test,  a  remedy  was 
offered  which  the  Mexicans  in  their  innocence  seized  upon  with 
high  hope.     This  was  the  Lancasterian  system  of  schools. 

Among  liberal  and  progressive  men  in  Great  Britain  much 
good  will  had  been  aroused  by  the  political  liberation  of  Spanish 
America.  England's  ancient  rivalry  with  Spain,  and  in  particu- 
lar the  antagonism  felt  by  many  of  her  citizens  toward  the 
reactionary  policies  of  the  Catholic  monarchy,  including  the 
long  nightmare  of  the  Inquisition,  made  the  story  of  this 
uprising  of  a  whole  continent  to  assert  its  independence,  and 
to  align  itself  with  democracy  and  progress,  a  most  fascinating 
one.  English  investors  hastened  to  aid  in  the  material  develop- 
ment of  these  newly  opened  fields,  and  at  the  same  time  English 
philanthropists  and  teachers  concerned  themselves  with  the 
moral  and  social  development  of  the  Latin-American  peoples. 
In  the  history  of  almost  every  republic  of  South  America  is 
enshrined  the  story  of  some  man  from  Great  Britain  who 
dedicated  his  life  and  his  fortune  to  the  cause  of  education. 
This  was  rarer  a  hundred  years  ago  than  it  is  now. 

Even  in  England,  popular  education  was  at  that  time  in  its 
experimental  stage.  When,  therefore,  Joseph  Lancaster  pro- 
duced his  scheme  for  making  students  teach  one  another,  the 
extraordinary  plan  soon  had  a  great  vogue.  Its  defects  do  not 
need  now  to  be  pointed  out.  It  was  too  much  like  the  attempt 
of  a  man  to  lift  himself  by  his  own  bootstraps  ever  to  attain 
any  solid  success.  Yet  it  did  furnish  rudimentary  instruction 
of  a  sort,  with  an  economy  that  was  amazing.  And  the 
economy  was  even  more  marked  in  the  matter  of  supplying 
teachers  than  in  the  actual  money  cost. 

This  precisely  met  the  situation  in  Mexico.  Poor  as  were 
the  states  and  the  municipalities  throughout  the  young  Repub- 
lic, it  was,  nevertheless,  easier  to  raise  money  than  to  supply 
teachers  for  the  needed  schools.  Indeed,  the  chief  difficulty 
was  (and  is  to  this  day)  the  securing  of  teachers  for  whose 
services  the  people  were  willing  to  pay.  It  is  said  on  excellent 
authority  that  today  in  the  most  scantily  settled  communities 

48 


of  Mexico,  where  the  scholastic  population  is  so  sparse  as  to 
make  the  sustaining  of  a  school  most  difficult,  it  is  easy  to  get 
the  citizens  to  add  to  the  stipend  afforded  by  taxes  if  only  they 
are  assured  of  a  competent  teacher.  The  inefficiency  of  the 
teachers  was,  perhaps,  the  heaviest  handicap  upon  the  public 
education  during  these  experimental  years  under  the  first 
constitution. 

The  plan  of  Lancaster  was,  as  will  be  recalled,  to  have  the 
older  pupils  act  as  monitors  and  teachers  of  the  younger.  In 
this  way  one  teacher  could  handle  a  very  large  number  of  stu- 
dents. This  mode  of  instruction  was  spoken  of  as  "mutual." 
Only  reading,  writing,  and  the  rudiments  of  arithmetic  were 
attempted.  These  schools  had  a  rapid  development  in  England 
itself  during  the  opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Buildings  and  funds  were  provided  by  philanthropic  men,  and 
a  large  number  of  very  poor  children  were  thus  taught.  Later 
Lancaster,  who  had  proved  to  be  as  impracticable  in  the 
organization  and  management  of  an  effective  system  as  he  had 
been  happy  in  the  development  of  a  fruitful  idea,  emigrated  to 
America,  spent  some  time  in  South  America,  and  succeeded  in 
giving  wide  advertisement  to  his  idea. 

The  Lancasterian  system  was  introduced  into  Mexico  in 
1822.  *  It  was  at  once  seized  upon  as  the  solution  of  a  situation 
which  offered  a  few  teachers  of  real  ability  and  a  huge  mass  of 
pupils  eager  to  be  taught.  For  the  whole  period  under  review 
(1821-1867)  it  represented  the  educational  activities  of  most 
of  the  states.  It  had  not  only  the  merit  indicated,  of  enabling 
one  teacher  to  handle — after  a  fashion — a  large  number  of 
pupils,  but  the  added  one  of  developing  initiative  and  an 
organic  consciousness  among  the  pupils  themselves.  In 
Guadalajara  was  founded  in  the  year  1828  an  official  Lan- 
casterian State  Normal  School,  under  the  direction  of  Professor 
Richard  Jones,  described  as  a  relative  of  Joseph  Lancaster. 
Special  provision  was  made  to  secure  the  attendance  of  the 


♦The  Sociedad  Lancasteriana  was  founded  in  Mexico  City  in  the  year  1822  as  a  result  of  the 
strong  impression  produced  by  articles  published  in  the  newspaper  El  Sol  for  the  diflfusion  of 
the  system  of  Lancaster.  The  first  schools  were  immediately  started  at  Mexico  City,  and  an 
effort  was  made  to  develop  one  of  the  schools  as  a  Normal  for  the  training  of  teachers  for  all 
the  country. — E.  A.  C.  (See  the  History  of  Mexican  Education  from  the  Beginnings  till  1900. 
by  Ezequiel  A.  Chavez,  in  Vol.  II  of  Mexico:  Its  Social  Evolution.) 

49 


rural  teachers,  their  expense  of  travel  and  board  being  paid  out 
of  public  funds.  The  school  had  a  brief  history  only,  and 
disappeared  during  the  political  convulsions  of  the  early 
thirties. 

Another  phase  of  the  educational  history  of  the  period  under 
review  deserves  separate  mention.  It  was  contemporary  with, 
though  perhaps  a  little  slower  and  later  than  the  Lancasterian 
movement,  and  had  to  do  with  higher  education  as  that  with 
lower.  This  was  the  gradual  emergence  of  the  central  state 
schools  called  "Institutos." 
V  The  Jesuits,  as  we  have  seen,  had  looked  upon  the  higher 
education  as  their  special  province.  The  nucleus  of  a  univer- 
sity according  to  Jesuit  practice  is  always  a  theological  semi- 
nary. The  course  of  development  then  is  to  add,  as  time  goes 
by  and  means  are  afforded,  schools  of  jurisprudence,  of  medicine, 
and  finally  of  philosophy.  This  latter  meant,  of  course,  the 
scholastic  philosophy;  and  such  a  school  was  still  a  good 
distance  removed  from  a  college  of  liberal  arts.  It  was, 
however,  the  only  thing  even  remotely  resembling  it  in  the 
colonial  days  of  Mexico. 

In  1767  the  Jesuits  were  expelled  from  Mexico,  as  well  as 
from  all  other  parts  of  the  Spanish  kingdom,  by  an  order  of 
King  Charles  III.  Their  extensive  libraries,  school  buildings, 
mission  stations,  and  other  properties  were  confiscated.  The 
society  had  been  popular  in  Mexico,  and  their  sudden  exile 
outraged  and  astounded  the  people.  The  institutions  for 
higher  learning  which  they  had  established  in  practically  every 
leading  city  of  the  country,  were  taken  over  by  the  Crown. 
The  theological  work  was  at  once  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
secular  Clergy  of  the  Church,  but  the  schools  of  jurisprudence, 
medicine,  and  philosophy  passed  under  state  control.  In 
many  of  the  states  of  Mexico  today  the  ''Instituto"  will  be 
found  housed  in  some  old  building  near  or  on  an  open  square 
called  "Plaza  de  la  Compania,"  that  is,  of  the  Company  of 
Jesus.  These  institutions  had  then  varying  fortunes,  according 
to  the  stability  of  the  funds  upon  which  they  depended,  the 
zeal  of  local  government  officials,  the  ability  of  the  men  directing 
the  schools,  and  so  on.  The  professional  schools  fared  best, 
as  they  dealt  in  living  needs  and  ministered  to  present  demands. 

50 


The  faculties  of  philosophy,  of  the  "college  proper,"  as  the 
phrase  sometimes  goes  in  our  own  day  and  land,  tended  strongly 
to  dry  up.  Nobody  was  greatly  interested  in  scholastic 
philosophy. 

Yet  these  higher  schools  furnished  a  nucleus  and  a  sugges- 
tion. Though  of  little  importance  during  the  later  colonial 
period,  very  early  in  the  course  of  the  independent  history  of 
the  states  they  began  to  be  revived  and  reformed  into  'Insti- 
tutos."  Far-seeing  leaders  perceived  in  them  the  promise  of 
valuable  service.  With  liberty  from  the  Inquisition,  and 
from  the  intervention  of  ecclesiastics  in  governmental  affairs, 
books  began  to  pour  into  the  country.  The  young  men  were 
reading.  They  were  demanding  to  know.  They  were  calling 
for  guidance.  Why  should  not  the  states  themselves  provide 
it  in  these  same  ''Institutos"? 

The  breach  that  fifty  years  before  had  been  opened  between 
them  and  the  theological  seminaries  was  now  widened.  The 
country  was  still  orthodox.  Even  the  republican  constitution 
had  sought  to  perpetuate  a  state  church.  But  the  books  which 
were  now  read  by  the  teachers  and  pupils  of  these  institutes 
were  precisely  those  that  orthodoxy  could  not  tolerate.  They 
were  caustic,  dissolvent,  irreverent,  even  atheistical  essays 
of  the  French  philosophers,  who  had  reacted  against  Ultramon- 
tanism,  in  Church  and  State. 

It  would  scarcely  be  possible  to  overestimate  the  influence 
of  this  irruption  of  French  ideas  among  the  youth  of  Mexico, 
or  of  the  'Institutos"  as  affording  centers  for  the  men  who 
entertained  them  and  asylums  for  the  ideas  themselves.  These 
men  were  comparatively  few  in  numxber.  Most  of  them  were 
identified  with  the  recently  introduced  Masonic  lodges,  and 
this  fact,  along  with  the  objectionable  literature  which  they 
read  and  the  revolutionary  political  ideas  which  they  were 
suspected  of  entertaining,  made  it  hard  for  them  to  avoid  open 
conflict  with  the  jealous  and  watchful  hierarchy  of  the  Church. 

A  thorny  and  contradictory  public  question  made  the  situa- 
tion all  the  more  acute.  This  was  the  matter  of  ecclesiastical 
patronage.  Since  the  patronage  of  Mexico  had  belonged  to 
the  Spanish  Crown,  and  since  the  Pope  had  anathematized  the 
revolutionary  movement  in  Mexico,  a  situation  had  arisen 

51 


which  nobody  could  disentangle.  Mexico  was  still  loyal  to 
the  Church.  The  clergy  maintained  under  the  Republic  their 
special  exemptions  (fueros),  and  all  other  rehgions  were  out- 
lawed. The  vast  properties  held  under  mortmain  were  as  yet 
undisturbed.  But  neither  the  King  of  Spain  nor  the  Pope 
would  recognize  Mexican  independence.  The  Pope  yielded 
first,  because  the  Mexican  Government  was  about  to  lay  hands 
on  the  patronage  of  the  Mexican  Church.  All  this  gave  the 
revolutionary  spirits  an  excellent  pretext  for  launching  a 
radical  program.  "Let  us  have  separation  between  Church 
and  State/'  they  said;  ''let  us  abolish  these  special  courts  of 
the  clergy,  and  make  them  amenable  to  law;  and  let  us 
disentail  these  huge  holdings  of  land,  and  see  that  they  are 
distributed  and  made  productive.''  Such  were  the  proposals, 
held,  if  not  clearly  enunciated,  by  a  group  of  men  who  rallied 
as  early  as  1833  about  Valentin  Gomez  Farias,  then  Vice- 
President,  a  man  destined  to  become  an  outstanding  figure  in 
the  later  stirring  scenes  of  his  country's  history.  It  was  in 
those  same  years  that  the  young  Indian,  Benito  Juarez,  was 
breaking  the  intellectual  shackles  of  the  Jesuit  seminary  in 
Oaxaca,  and  was  assisting  in  the  revival  of  the  Instituto  there, 
an  enterprise  which  later,  as  governor  and  president,  he  ever 
continued  to  cherish. 

Against  this  menace  the  Church  leaders  promptly  appealed 
to  the  Army.  Its  officers  enjoyed  fueros  also,  and  its  spirit 
was  instinctively  conservative.  Besides,  the  huge  mass  of  the 
people  could  understand  nothing  of  these  new  and  shocking 
ideas.  They  got  their  instruction  and  their  mental  guidance 
almost  wholly  from  the  priests,  who  began  freely  to  use  pulpit, 
confessional,  and  social  circle  to  discredit  and  outlaw  this 
republicanism  which  was  bruited  about.  The  liberals  were 
overwhelmed.  Santa  Anna  came  upon  the  scene  at  this 
juncture  as  champion  of  both  Church  and  Army.  Gomez 
Farias  was  banished;  despite  the  fact  that  a  moderate  party 
had  been  formed  to  mediate  between  the  extremists  of  both 
wings,  and  had  received  his  support,  along  with  that  of  other 
able  liberals. 

In  this  period  1835  to  1855,  the  national  Government  was, 
most  of  the  time.  Centralist.     Until  the  year  1842  the  matter  of 

62 


schools  continued  to  be  left  to  the  states — called  in  those  days 
Departamentos — which  seem  usually  to  have  left  it  to  the 
municipalities.  In  some  of  the  capitals  there  was  vigorous 
activity,  under  the  lead,  as  a  rule,  of  some  one  man,  who  as 
governor,  state  superintendent,  inspector,  or  private  citizen, 
devoted  himself  unselfishly  to  the  cause.  In  Guadalajara 
statistics  show  that  under  the  guidance  of  a  board  of  education 
organized  as  early  as  1837,  of  which  Mr.  Lopez  Cotilla  was  the 
dominating  spirit,  there  was  maintained  a  system  of  primary 
schools.  In  1839  there  were  in  the  city  and  its  suburbs  twenty- 
two  such  schools,  twelve  in  the  city  proper.  There  was  an 
attendance  of  2,469  pupils,  and  the  year's  outlay  was  $10,448. 

In  the  year  1842  the  Centralist  government,  at  the  time 
directed  by  Santa  Anna,  undertook  at  last  to  further  primary 
education.  An  elaborate  decree  was  issued,  providing  for  a 
central  Lancasterian  board  in  Mexico  City,  which  should  have 
the  exclusive  right  to  prepare  and  license  teachers,  and  for 
departmental  boards  subordinate  to  it.  Governors  of  the 
Departments  were  required  to  establish  at  least  one  school  for 
boys  and  one  for  girls  for  every  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
were  authorized  to  levy  a  special  tax  of  one  real  (123^  cents) 
on  each  head  of  a  family.  One  per  cent  of  this  was  to  go  to 
the  central  board.  Attendance  was  to  be  obligatory,  and  the 
course  of  studies  was  prescribed.  It  embraced  reading, 
writing,  the  four  primary  rules  of  arithmetic,  and  Christian 
doctrine.  The  whole  system  was  placed  under  the  patronage 
of  the  Virgin  of  Guadalupe. 

This  proved  to  be  another  paper  public  school  system.  The 
upheaval  consequent  upon  the  war  with  the  United  States 
invalidated  the  little  that  had  been  done  in  the  interval  to 
set  the  system  in  operation.  Professor  Martinez  says  very 
bluntly  that  it  was  a  system  based  so  completely  upon  the 
conceptions  and  ideals  of  colonial  days  that  it  failed  to  appeal 
to  the  educational  leaders  throughout  the  country.  What 
with  being  rigidly  centralized  and  also  subordinated  to  the 
dictates  of  the  clergy,  it  lacked  the  atmosphere  of  freedom  and 
of  spontaneity  which  alone  could  win  the  co-operation  of  the 
men  who  were  devoting  their  lives  to  the  cause  of  education. 

53 


It  had  one  noteworthy  effect,  which  was  to  strengthen  the 
position  of  the  Lancasterian  boards.  These,  both  the  national 
board  and  those  of  the  Departments,  had  become  more  or  less 
autonomous  corporations,  and  after  the  usual  manner  of 
corporations  they  had  begun  industriously  to  extend  their 
power.  This  temporary  legal  recognition  gave  them  an  ad- 
vantage, and  they  became  so  strong  in  some  cities  as  later  to 
dispute  with  regular  state  boards  over  questions  of  authority 
and  administration.  The  Lancasterian  standards  were  thus 
perpetuated  to  the  close  of  the  period  which  we  have  now  under 
review. 

The  American  War  resulted  disastrously  for  the  Centralist 
party.  At  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  decade,  the  Federalists, 
after  a  long  minority,  again  for  a  brief  period  secured  control 
of  the  Government.  The  sovereign  states  were  re-established, 
and  the  cause  of  education  received  instant  attention.  In 
Jalisco,  Lopez  Cotilla,  the  apostle  of  public  education,  had 
continued  during  all  the  intervening  years  to  keep  alive  the 
work  of  the  schools.  Unconcerned  apparently  as  to  whether 
the  government  were  conservative  or  liberal,  whether  he  worked 
under  a  Department  or  a  Sovereign  State,  whether  the  system 
was  municipal  or  general,  Lancasterian  or  other,  he  fought 
bravely  on,  devoting  his  life  and  his  fortune  to  the  cause  of 
educating  the  youth  of  his  country.  The  measure  of  his  success 
during  the  trying  decade,  1840-1850,  is  itself  a  criterion  of 
the  man's  devotion  and  aptitudes.  When  in  1855  he  was 
forced  by  ill  health  at  last  to  give  up  his  leadership — he  was  at 
that  time  Inspector  General  of  Jalisco,  once  more  a  Departa- 
mento — he  was  mourned  and  eulogized  by  Government,  teachers 
and  the  public.  * 

The  shameless  dictatorship  of  Santa  Anna,  established  in 
1853,  and  his  utter  incapacity  for  civil  administration,  brought 
the  conservative  party  once  more  into  disrepute,  and  augmented 
the  number  and  strength  of  the  progressives.  By  1855  Santa 
Anna  was  banished,  and  a  sturdy  liberal  soldier,  Juan  Alvarez, 
was  in  the  presidential  chair.  The  constitution  of  1824,  though 
it  had  been  re-adopted  once  or  twice  at  intervals  when  the 


♦Among  other  apostles  of  public  education  in  Mexico  during  this  period  we  may  mention 
the  name  of  Vidal  Alcocer.  His  humble  and  self-sacrificing,  but  wonderful  work  was  carried 
on  in  the  City  of  Mexico.     Of.  Chavez,  History  of  Mexican  Education,  loc.  cit. — E.  A.  C. 

54 


liberals  were  in  power,  did  not  seem  now  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  situation.  A  constitutional  convention  was,  therefore, 
ordered,  and  work  begun  on  a  new  constitution.  The  radical 
reforms  which  had  been  hinted  at  in  1833  were  now  to  become  a 
reality.  There  was  to  be  separation  between  Church  and  State. 
There  was  to  be  equality  before  the  law.  Fueros,  both  military 
and  ecclesiastical,  were  doomed.  There  was  to  be  a  new 
assertion  of  the  Rights  of  Man.  The  venerable  Gomez  Farias 
lived  to  see  the  fruition  of  his  hopes.  One  of  the  finest  episodes 
in  Mexican  history  is  the  scene  when,  supported  on  either  side 
by  a  son,  he  tottered  forward  to  affix  his  signature  as  a  member 
of  Congress  to  that  instrument,  one  which  Mexicans  still  look 
upon  as  the  charter  of  their  freedom.  The  new  constitution 
was  proclaimed  February  5,  1857. 

The  clerical  party,  however,  interposed  a  tremendous 
resistance.  Fueros  and  political  prestige  could  not  be  given 
up  without  a  struggle.  The  three  years'  war  that  ensued 
(1858-1861)  was  the  bitterest  in  Mexico's  history.  The  con- 
servatives insisted  on  projecting  into  the  foreground  the 
religious  question — on  making  it  a  war  for  and  against  religion. 
The  storm  proved  too  much  for  Comonfort,  who  had  mean- 
time been  elected  President.  He  gave  up  and  left  the  country, 
and  Benito  Juarez,  who  was  at  the  time  President  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  succeeded  to  his  position.  This  remarkable 
man  had  sprung  from  a  very  humble  Zapotec  Indian  family 
in  the  State  of  Oaxaca.  Following  a  sister  to  the  capital  city 
of  the  same  name,  where  she  had  work  as  a  domestic  servant, 
he  obtained  a  similar  position,  learning  to  speak  Spanish  after 
he  was  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  worked  his  way  into  the 
theological  seminary,  passed  then  to  the  Institute,  studied 
law,  taught,  became  director  of  the  Institute,  Congressman, 
governor  of  his  state,  and  later,  as  we  have  seen,  President  of 
the  Federal  Supreme  Court  (then  an  elective  position). 

The  Conservatives,  with  the  help  of  the  army,  took  pos- 
session of  the  Capital  and  of  the  central  part  of  the  Republic, 
and  Juarez  was  obliged,  after  a  long  and  circuitous  trip,  full 
of  personal  dangers,  to  set  up  his  government  in  Vera  Cruz. 
It  was  from  that  city  that  he  guided  the  destinies  of  the  pro- 
gressive party  during  the  bloody  and  fractricidal  Three  Years' 

55 


War,  and  there,  at  the  height  of  that  struggle,  convinced  at 
last  that  such  a  step  was  inevitable,  he  proclaimed  the  Reform 
Laws  {Leyes  de  Reforma).  This  was  in  1859.  Fifteen  years 
later,  during  the  presidency  of  Lerdo  de  Tejada,  those  laws, 
placed  thus  irregularly  in  operation  by  executive  order,  were 
deliberately  re-enacted  and  strengthened,  by  vote  of  the 
Federal  Congress.  Every  year  since,  experience  has  served  to 
confirm  the  Mexican  people  in  the  conviction  that  these  laws 
are  essential  to  their  national  well-being.  This  conviction  is 
now  well  nigh  universal  among  them,  though  the  resistance 
of  the  Church  officials  has  never  ceased. 

Perhaps  it  will  not  be  superfluous  here  to  give  the  summary 
as  compiled  by  Juarez  and  his  ministers  themselves,  of  what  it 
was  proposed  by  these  laws  to  accomplish.  They  announced 
as  their  purpose: 

1.  To  adopt  as  a  general  and  invariable  principle  absolute  separation 
between  state  affairs  and  ecclesiastical  affairs. 

2.  To  suppress  all  religious  orders  for  men,  without  exception,  seculariz- 
ing the  priests  who  belonged  to  them. 

3.  To  extinguish  all  religious  brotherhoods  of  every  class. 

4.  To  close  the  novitiates  of  convents  for  women,  allowing  no  more  to 
enter,  but  permitting  those  under  vows  to  continue  to  enjoy  the  income 
from  their  endowments  or  personal  gifts,  with  a  proper  allowance  for  the 
support  of  worship. 

5.  To  declare  to  be  the  property  of  the  nation  all  of  the  goods  now 
administered  by  the  clergy,  regular  or  secular,  under  any  title  whatever, 
as  well  as  that  held  by  convents  of  nuns  in  excess  of  specific  endowment 
gifts,  and  to  alienate  the  titles  to  said  property,  accepting  in  part  payment 
for  them  certain  national  securities. 

6.  To  declare  that  such  remuneration  as  believers  may  give  to  their 
priests  for  administering  the  sacraments  and  for  other  ecclesiastical  services 
— which  if  properly  handled  and  distributed  will  suffice  for  the  sustenance 
of  public  worship  and  of  those  who  minister  therein — shall  be  a  matter  of 
voluntary  agreement  between  the  parties  interested,  the  civil  authorities 
having  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it. 

7.  Moreover,  in  addition  to  these  measures,  which  the  Government 
beheves  are  the  only  ones  which  will  result  in  the  proper  submission  of  the 
clergy  to  the  authorities  of  the  state  in  all  civil  matters,  while  they  remain 
free  to  devote  themselves,  as  they  should,  to  the  exercise  of  a  spiritual 
ministry,  it  believes  further  that  it  is  indispensable  that  it  should  safeguard 
in  the  republic  complete  religious  liberty,  and  this  it  will  do,  both  as  es- 
sential to  its  own  well  being  and  as  demanded  by  modern  civilization.* 


♦Justo  Sierra,  Juarez,  8U  Obra  y  su  Tiampo,  p.  153. 

56 


Juarez  was  a  strongly  religious  man.  He  seems  to  have 
been  little  affected  by  the  materialistic  philosophy  of  his  time. 
As  Governor  of  the  State  of  Oaxaca  he  had  enforced  the  col- 
lection, under  the  existing  laws,  of  tithes  for  the  parish  priests. 
It  was,  no  doubt,  a  source  of  real  pain  to  him  to  be  placed  thus 
in  the  attitude  of  antagonizing  the  Church,  which,  as  his 
opponents  insisted,  was  the  same  thing  as  antagonizing  religion. 
It  is  essential  in  the  study  of  this  episode  to  take  note  of  a 
distinction  which  was  perfectly  clear  to  the  mind  of  Juarez 
and  his  associates.  Their  struggle  was  against  the  higher 
clergy,  the  bishops,  archbishops,  and  others,  and  not  against 
the  humble  parish  priests.  The  latter  had  furnished  leaders 
and  goodwill  in  all  the  revolutionary  efforts,  and  their  sym- 
pathies were  sui-e  to  be  with  the  common  people  to  whom  they 
ministered.  But  the  hierarchy  as  a  group,  the  successors  of 
the  men  who  in  colonial  days  had  been  counselors  of  the  kings, 
viceroys,  visitors,  members  of  the  andiencia,  of  the  India 
Council,  the  Inquisition,  and  the  hke,  held  tenaciously  to  the 
idea  that  they  ought  to  share  in  the  government. 

An  important  element  in  the  gradual  clearing  up  of  the 
ideas  of  Juarez  on  this  whole  matter  was  his  residence  as  an 
exile  for  about  two  years  in  New  Orleans.  With  him  were 
Ocampo,  Mata,  Arriaga,  and  others.  They  worked  for  their 
living  as  day-laborers,  Juarez  as  a  cigar-maker.  This  was  in 
1853  and  1854,  during  the  last  dictatorship  of  Santa  Anna. 
Their  observation  of  liberty  in  operation,  and  the  consequent 
prosperity  and  strength,  made  a  profound  impression  upon 
them.  Thenceforward,  Juarez  never  doubted  that  one  step 
at  least  was  fundamental  for  the  future  of  his  country,  and  that 
was  the  establishment  of  religious  liberty. 

Miguel  Lerdo  de  Tejada  was  the  intellectual  leader  of  the 
group  of  reformers  who  conceived,  formulated,  and  popularized 
the  principle  of  complete  separation  between  Church  and  State. 
One  thoughtful  Mexican  historian  declares  that  the  Leyes 
de  Reforma  were  really  more  fundamental  in  the  evolution  of 
Mexico's  freedom  than  even  the  Constitution  of  '57  itself. 
This  constitution  had,  however,  opened  the  way,  since  it 
omitted  (for  the  first  time)  the  article  declaring  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  to  be  the  official  and  only  faith  of  the  country. 

57 


Separation  between  the  Church  and  State  is  now  so  nearly  an 
axiom  in  democratic  governments  that  it  will  be  no  surprise 
to  most  students  to  find  the  Mexican  people  coming  thus  to 
accept  it.  The  confiscation  of  Church  property  which  ac- 
companied this  acceptance  was  less  evidently  justifiable.  The 
leaders  of  the  patriotic  party  in  1859  offered  several  grounds 
for  this  step.  In  the  first  place,  they  said,  ''these  great  prop- 
erties— the  real  estate  especially — w^ere  largely  acquired  by 
taxation.  They  are  fundamentally  national,  because  the 
nation  authorized  the  contributions  which  created  them.  But 
they  have  been  made  unproductive  by  being  withdrawn  from 
settlement,  taxation,  and  proper  development,  and  their 
products  devoted  to  the  support  of  parasitic  groups  of  men  and 
women.  Moreover,  the  Church  leaders  who  persist  in  opposing 
the  entire  program  of  republican  development,  use  this  wealth 
to  wage  their  campaign  of  opposition.  They  are  able  in  war 
to  employ  large  bodies  of  soldiers.  Yet  they  have  ever  been 
unwilling,  even  in  time  of  foreign  war,  to  contribute  to  the 
expenses  of  the  Government.  Even  now  they  are  about  to 
defeat  the  establishment  of  a  genuinely  modern,  progressive 
constitution.  They  ought  to  be  deprived  of  the  means  of 
doing  this  kind  of  mischief.  The  liberal  Government,  on  the 
other  hand,  needs  the  resources  which  would  thus  be  obtained. 
It  is  the  champion  of  the  poor  people,  and  is  itself,  after  pro- 
longed fighting,  distressingly  poor.'^ 

Such  were  the  arguments.  Even  before  the  Federal  law 
was  proclaimed  from  Vera  Cruz,  these  principles  had  been  put 
into  operation  in  several  states  where  constitutionalist  gov- 
ernors had  triumphed.  Ortega,  Vidaurri,  Ogazon,  and  others 
were  already  testing  them.  Lerdo  de  Tejada  said  to  Juarez 
about  this  time:  "If  you  do  not  put  into  operation  this  reform, 
it  will  go  into  operation  of  itself."  It  had  become  a  sort  of 
self-evident  matter  with  the  leaders  of  the  patriot  party.  But 
with  the  meager  facilities  then  existing  for  reaching  and  teaching 
the  people,  and  with  the  clericals  more  intent  than  ever  upon 
impressing  upon  their  followers  that  the  liberal  program  was 
an  attack  on  religion,  the  constitutionalist  cause  was  not  yet 
universally  popular.  It  was  at  last  slowly  gaining  the  as- 
cendancy in  arms,  but  might  have  needed  still  a  long  time 

58 


before  winning  the  goodwill  of  the  people  at  large,  had  not 
the  conservatives  made  a  final  and  fatal  blunder.  This  was 
the  bringing  in  of  foreign  intervention,  resulting  in  the  tragic 
''empire"  of  Maximilian.  With  this  they  placed  a  weapon  in 
the  hands  of  the  liberals  which  has  enabled  the  latter  to  domi- 
nate public  sentiment  to  this  day.  If  the  Mexican  is  incurably 
religious,  he  is  equally  inflexible  in  his  nationalism.  Mexico 
for  the  Mexicans  is  his  creed.  To  this  he  adheres  to  the  last 
man.  He  will  brook  no  outside  interference.  Louis  Napoleon 
got  his  lesson.  American  statesmen  of  our  day  may  well 
profit  by  it. 

It  has  seemed  worth  while  to  trace  thus  particularly  the 
historj^  of  the  triumph  of  liberal  ideas,  because  of  the  direct 
bearing  which  the  political  development  had  on  education  in 
Mexico.  For  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  that  country  had 
been  committed  to  one  educational  ideal,  viz. :  the  entrusting  of 
the  whole  cause  to  the  Church.  Now  she  entered  upon  a  new 
path.  Henceforth  the  way  was  open  for  education  by  the 
State,  and  Church  schools  were  to  cease  to  have  any  public 
or  official  status.* 


*Smce  writing  the  above  paragraph  the  writer  has  come  upon  a  terse  and  comprehensive 
statement  of  this  transition,  by  Dr.  Edgar  Ewing  Brandon,  of  Miami  University.  In  his 
report  on  Latin-American  imiversities,  issued  as  a  bulletin  (1912,  No.  30)  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau 
of  Education,  he  says  (p.  132,  133): 

"Up  to  the  time  of  their  independence,  Latin-American  coimtries  relied  entirely  on  the 
Church  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  schools.  The  local  priest  had  oversight  of 
the  primary  school,  if  there  was  one.  Religious  orders  maintained  institutions  of  secondary 
grade,  and  the  colonial  universities  all  owed  their  foundation  to  the  Church.  In  the  struggle 
for  independence  the  clergy  very  generally  favored  the  colonies,  for  it  was  not  Spain,  the 
CathoHc,  against  which  they  first  rebelled,  but  against  Spain,  the  subject  of  Napoleon,  the 
man  who  had  despoiled  the  Church  and  virtually  imprisoned  the  Pope.  The  formation  of 
the  independent  republic  did  not  at  first  change  the  status  of  education.  During  the  first 
decades  of  the  new  era  the  religious  orders  continued  in  charge  of  the  schools,  high  and  low,  to 
the  entire  satisfaction  of  all  concerned.  The  State  willingly  granted  subsidies  for  their  im- 
provement and  extension.  But  during  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  conditions 
changed.  The  idea  of  secular  education  which  should  be  free  to  all  and  required  of  all,  devel- 
oped in  Latin  America,  as  it  had  slowly  developed  in  Latin  Europe.  Education  for  the  State,  by 
the  State,  without  reference  to  the  ecclesiastical  organization  or  to  specific  religious  instruction, 
was  abhorrent  to  the  tenets  of  the  Church,  and  it  resisted  to  the  full  extent  of  its  power;  but 
in  America,  as  in  Europe,  the  State  triumphed.  Public  secular  primary  schools  were  first 
established,  then  high  schools;  and  the  imiversities  also  were  in  time  wholly  secularized.  This 
struggle  long  continued  alienated  and  embittered  the  two  powers,  and  the  doctrine  of  complete 
separation  of  Church  and  State  gained  added  force.  It  is  a  bit  fantastic  that  the  animosity 
should  be  reflected  in  school  curricula,  but  such  proved  to  be  the  outcome.  Since  the  State 
had  undertaken  pubKc  instruction,  it  must  perforce  make  its  schools  popular.  The  Church 
schools  had  remained  classical  and  conservative.  The  State,  in  contrast,  made  its  schools 
scientific  and  practical.  Latin  was  the  central,  all-pervading  feature  of  ecclesiastical  educa- 
tion.    In  order  to  discredit  this  education,  the  study  of  Latin  was  decried.     Latin  was  the 

59 


l^ 


official  language  of  the  Church;  to  teach  it  in  the  secular  school  was  almost  like  teaching  an 
ecclesiastical  subject.  Again,  if  Latin  were  recognized  as  an  important  study,  the  state  edu- 
cator could  not  compete  with  the  clerical,  since  the  best  Latinists  were  the  clergy  themselves 
and  the  members  of  the  religious  teaching  orders;  and  to  admit  into  the  secular  teaching  corps 
and  to  give  Latin  its  pristine  position  in  the  role  of  education  would  be  but  to  transform  the 
/r  new  secular  system  into  the  old  ecclesiastical  school.     The  outcome  of  the  struggle  was  the 

entire  eUmination  of  Latin  from  State-supported  and  subsidized  schools;  and  when  it  was  no 
longer  required,  or  even  'credited,'  for  the  baccalaureate — a  state-conferred  degree — ^it  naturally 
disappeared  from  the  private  schools  as  well." 


60 


VII  —  LATER  PHASES— SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION 

Summary 

The  civil  wars  of  1850-1867  were  inimical  to  schools.     An  educational 
decree  was  issued  by  Maximilian  in  1866.     This  was  nullified  by  his  down- 
fall.    The  dominance  of  French  ideas  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  the 
essentials  of  the  French  system.     The  period  from  1870  to  1910  was  one  of 
rapid  development.     The  Federal  District  and  the  States  alike  worked  for 
the  promotion  of  schools..     Lack  of  system  and  efficiency  in  municipalities 
caused  the  states  to  be  more  active.     Primary  schools  received  attention 
first  of  all.     Illiteracy  was  reduced  to  75  per  cent  or  lower^-  Coahuila  and 
Jalisco  illustrate  contrasted  practices  in  school  management.     In  the  first 
the  m.unicipalities  carry  all  the  financial  burden;  in  the  second  the  State. 
In  1906  the  Federal  District  showed  a  school  population  of  11  per  cent. 
By  1910  the  proportion  in  all  the  Republic  was  probably  Q}4  per  cent.     A 
summary  of  the  situation  in  primary  education.     No  special  place  has  beeiTJ 
made  in  Mexico  for  the  high  school.     Preparatory  education  may  be  looked    I 
on  as  preparation  for  college  or  for  professional  studies.     It  has  there  been  Jx 
given  usually  the  latter  meaning.     The  Institutos  correspond  to  the  French   . 
Lycees.     They  offer  a  few  college  studies.     Some  of  them  included  in   \ 
professional   courses.     Dr.   Brandon   quoted.     Professional   and  technical 
education  has  been  offered  by  some  of  the  Institutos^     Engineering  is 
taught  as  well  as  law  and  medicine.    Industrial  schools  have  been  established 
by  most  states.     They  are  largely  for  outcast  boys.     Normal  schools  also 
are  found  generally  under  state  control.     They  are  related  directly  to  the      i 
primary  schools.     Their  courses  cover  high  school  studies,  with  a  few 
added  technical  branches.     They  are  attended  chiefly  by  poor  boys  and     | 
girls,  and  have  to  supply  board  and  lodging  as  well  as  free  tuition.     The 
University  of  Mexico  was  founded  in  1553.     It  consisted  of  faculties  of 
letters,  law,  medicine,  and  theology.     The  professional  departments  tended   \ 
to  absorb  the  others.     It  survived  under  the  Republic  till  1867,  though  with 
varying  fortunes.     The  professional  schools  continued  separately.    Recently   , 
efforts  have  been  to  revive  it.     Dr.  Brandon  quoted.     Private  schools  ) 
divided  into  mission  schools.   Catholic  schools,   and  special  schools.     A 
resume  of  the  three  classes. 

THE  civil  wars  that  were  almost  continuous  from  1850 
to  1867  effectually  prevented  any  formal  and  stable 
legislation   in  regard   to  schools,   and   thwarted   and 
checked  the  zeal  of  the  apostles  of  education  who  in  various 
spheres  nevertheless  labored  on  in  the  great  cause.     In  several 
of  the  states  liberal  governors  sought,  about  1859  and  1860,  to 

61 


bring  to  the  aid  of  republicanism  effective  school  systems,  and 
laws  were  elaborated  to  that  end.  But  the  besom  of  the 
French  Intervention  soon  swept  governments  and  schools 
together  out  of  existence.  In  1866  the  Imperial  Government  of 
Maximilian  issued  a  comprehensive,  and  apparently  well- 
considered,  decree  for  a  system  of  public  education  covering 
the  entire  country.  It  was  not  carried  into  effect,  however,  as 
the  government  itself  came  to  an  abrupt  end  early  the  next 
year.  An  interesting  detail  is  brought  out  in  the  history  of 
secondary  and  professional  education  in  Nuevo  Leon,  already 
referred  to,  edited  by  Professor  Miguel  Martinez.  Touching 
upon  this  imperial  law,  one  of  the  historians  states  that  it 
provided  for  a  division  of  the  work  of  higher  education  between 
liceos  and  colegios  Uterarios.  So  far  as  I  have  ascertained,  this 
was  the  only  effort  ever  made  in  Mexico  to  discriminate  between 
the  high  school  and  the  college.  All  other  systems  there, 
including  that  now  in  vogue,  have  provided  only  professional 
education  above  the  high  school.  It  is  true  that  the  escuela 
preparatoria,  after  the  manner  of  the  French  lyc^es,  often  gives 
a  more  extended  course  of  study  than  our  high  schools.  The 
matter  has  in  neither  case  been  yet  reduced  to  an  exact  rule. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  influence  of  French  ideas  in 
Mexico  during  the  early  years  of  the  Republic.  Since  that 
time  French  intellectual  standards  have  exerted  a  profound, 
perhaps  we  might  safely  say,  a  controlling  influence,  upon  the 
thought  of  the  Mexican  people.  By  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  a  tendency  was  already  manifest  among 
them  to  go  to  France  rather  than  to  Spain  for  ideas.  This 
was  given  a  powerful  impulse  by  the  new  nationalism  which 
followed  the  achievement  of  independence,  and  by  the  ill- 
tempered  refusal  of  Spain  to  accept  the  new  political  situation. 
Within  a  decade  the  young  men  who  had  occasion  to  go  abroad 
for  education  were  going  to  France,  the  French  language  and 
French  fashions  had  become  popular,  and  the  literature  of 
France,  fiction  and  poetry,  as  well  as  philosophy,  began  that 
domination  of  Mexican  thought  which  has  continued  to  this 
day.  It  has  been  a  question  of  congeniality,  of  intellectual 
temperament.    And  in  view  of  this,  nothing  was  more  natural 

62 


than  that  the  French  type  should  be  the  model  for  the  educa- 
tional system  in  Mexico.* 

The  forty  years  from  1870  to  1910  were.,  for  Mexico,  a 
comparatively  peaceful  period.  Under  the  constitution  the 
states  were  sovereign  in  educational  matters.  The  Federal 
Congress  legislated  for  the  capital  city  and  the  Federal  District, 
as  well  as  for  three  large  territories.  The  educational  schedule 
approved  by  it  had  a  measure  of  recognition  as  setting  a  type 
to  be  imitated.  But  several  of  the  states  appear  to  have  been 
quite  as  alert  and  progressive  in  educational  matters  as  the 
Federal  Government  itself.  During  the  long  interval  of  quiet 
and  of  rapid  material  development  under  President  Diaz, 
beginning  especially  with  his  second  term  in  1884,  there  was 
ample  opportunity  for  perfecting  educational  plans,  both  in 
administrative  and  in  financial  provisions.  The  student  of 
the  educational  history  of  that  period— of  which  there  is  an 
abundance  of  documentary  material — will  be  impressed  with 
two  or  three  outstanding  features.  He  will  note,  for  a  time,  a 
tendency  that  had  already  often  showed  itself — to  reform  and 
rearrange  with  great  minuteness  the  systems,  both  as  to  the 
category  and  num.ber  of  schools,  and  as  to  courses  of  study, 
text-books,  hours  of  recitation,  and  routine  in  general.  It  was 
only  after  a  good  deal  of  further  experimenting  with  these  paper 
plans,  that  it  came  home  to  legislatures  and  governors  alike 
that  the  really  essential  and  fundamental  elements  of  a  school 
system  are  funds  and  teachers,  and  that  until  these  demands 
are  provided  for,  elaborate  programs  are  of  little  service. 
Toward  the  end  of  the  period,  therefore,  there  came  marked 
activity  in  the  development  of  state  normal  schools.  This  was 
the  second  notable  phase  of  history.  Another,  perhaps 
even  more  transcendent,  was  the  serious  attempt  to  solve  the 
financial  problem.  During  all  the  long  period  of  the  country's 
poverty,  due  to  the  almost  continuous  prevalence  of  war,  the 
matter  of  supporting  schools  had  been  perforce  referred  to  the 
municipalities.     The  result  was  that  the  stronger  cities  and 


*The  French  system  prevailed,  however,  only  in  the  primary  and  professional  schools.  The 
Escuela  Nacional  Preparatoria,  the  pattern  of  the  Institufos  of  the  states  since  1867,  has  been 
(at  least  till  within  these  last  years)  a  very  peculiar  institution.  It  is  the  work  of  the  con- 
structive genius  of  Dr.  Gabino  Barreda,  who  embodied  in  that  school  the  main  ideas  of  the 
scientific  classification  as  expressed  by  August  Comte.— E.  A.  C. 

63 


towns  managed,  by  one  device  or  another,  to  keep  alive  their 
schools,  no  matter  whether  Centralists  or  FederaHsts,  clericals 
or  liberals,  were  in  power,  no  matter  whether  these  munici- 
palities constituted  a  sub-section  of  a  state  or  of  a  department. 
But  the  villages  and  the  poorer  towns,  poor  in  leadership,  as 
well  as  in  money,  did  nothing  at  all.  They  had  no  schools. 
The  cloud  of  ignorance  which  darkened  the  country's  sky  when 
freedom  came  still  brooded  over  them.  * 

Thus  it  came  about  that  the  states  found  themselves  com- 
pelled to  intervene  more  directly  in  educational  matters.  The 
municipalities  were  not  only  prone  to  neglect  the  work,  when 
pressed  by  poverty,  but  they  were  equally  disposed  when  they 
undertook  it  to  go  their  own  gait,  disregarding  any  provisions 
of  the  state  law  that  did  not  suit  them.  .  It  was  easy  for  the 
State  to  order,  for  example,  that  all  children  from  seven  to 
fourteen  years  of  age  should  attend  school.  Who  was  to  see 
that  the  law  was  carried  out?  Equal  liberties  were  taken  v/ith 
other  provisions — length  of  term,  courses  of  study,  salaries 
of  teachers,  and  the  like.  The  result  was  a  chaotic  condition 
in  many  of  the  states  which  was  the  despair  of  educational 
leaders.  The  more  vigorous  intervention  of  the  states  in  the 
educational  affairs  of  the  municipalities  had  thus  its  justifica- 
tion, not  only  in  the  supplementing  of  meager  incomes,  but  also 
in  the  regularizing  and  inspection  of  the  work  done.  State  aid 
was  extended  on  condition  that  state  laws  should  be  carried 
out;  and  systematic  inspection,  the  school  census,  truant 
officers,  and  other  machinery  for  enforcing  those  laws,  came  in 
due  course  to  be  installed. 

Following  this  general  view  of  the  modem  penod,  we  are 
ready  for  a  more  detailed  exhibit. 


♦All  the  important  measures  were  usually  undertaken  in  the  various  states  as  a  result  of 
federal  initiative.  This  was  especially  the  case  during  the  last  fifteen  years  of  the  Diaz  regime. 
Reports  of  contrary  character  may  be  attributed  to  a  feeling  of  "regionalism"  or  "provincial- 
ism," of  which  there  is  all  too  much  evidence  in  Mexico.  At  the  National  Congress  of  Primary 
Education,  held  in  Mexico  City  in  1910,  Don  Miguel  F.  Martinez  showed  that  out  of  a  total 
expenditure  for  the  current  year  of  10,261,240  pesos  in  behalf  of  primary  schools  throughout 
the  Republic,  some  3,322,728  pesos  represented  the  expenditure  of  the  Federal  Government 
for  the  primary  schools  in  the  Federal  District  only.  This  fact  showed  the  primacy  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  primary  education. — E.  A.  C. 

64 


A— PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

1.  Primary  Schools.  Elementary  schools  have  properly 
received  more  attention  than  any  other  phase  of  public  educa- 
tion. From  the  first  the  patriot  leaders  of  independent  Mexico 
have  seen  that  the  training  of  all  the  people  in  the  rudiments 
of  learning  is  essential  to  a  dem.ocracy,  and,  being  essential,  is 
the  duty  and  obligation  of  the  State.  Most  of  the  repeated 
attempts  at  legislation,  which  our  review  of  the  century  just 
closed  has  set  before  us,  concerned  themselves  primarily  with 
elem.entary  education.  The  task  was  and  is  in  Mexico  a 
gigantic  one.  Only  a  beginning  has  been  made.  Somewhat 
pessimistic  estimates,  emanating  from  Federal  sources,  have 
even  in  recent  years  placed  the  illiteracy  of  the  Mexican  people 
as  high  as  seventy-five  or  eighty  per  cent.  This  is  probably 
too  high.  The  charge,  oft  repeated  since  the  passing  of  the 
Diaz  regime,  that  that  somewhat  autocratic  executive  and  his 
associates  were  never  really  friendly  to  the  cause  of  popular 
education,  is  vigorously  repudiated  by  his  friends.  Senor 
Chavez  assures  the  writer  that  there  is  abundant  mxaterial  to 
show  that  the  efforts  made  by  President  Diaz  and  his  supporters 
in  behalf  of  education  were  numerous  and  far-reaching  in  effect. 
The  history  of  education  during  the  last  ten  years  of  the  Diaz 
regime  has  never  been  written,  but  the  real  leaders  in  this 
field,  among  whom  Senor  Chavez  particularly  cites  Don 
Miguel  F.  Martinez,  have  always  been  ready  to  acknowledge 
their  indebtedness  to  the  administrative  agencies  of  President 
Diaz  for  moral  and  material  assistance. 

Early  in  the  present  century  the  project  for  a  centralized 
federal  system  of  schools  began  to  receive  serious  consideration, 
but  its  definite  inauguration  was  constantly  postponed.  It 
was  understood  that  President  Diaz  himself  disapproved  the 
idea.  Since  the  passing  of  the  Diaz  regime,  Senor  Chavez 
states,  this  idea  has  been  revived,  particularly  in  the  matter  of 
establishing  a  system  of  escuelas  rudimentarids,  for  the  teaching 
merely  of  the  Spanish  language,  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic. 
Such  a  limited  program  can  not  be  said  to  constitute  a  sijstem 
of  education. 

At  this  point  it  may  be  well  to  note  the  fact,  which  Pro- 
fessor Chavez  considers  of  fundamental  importance,  that  from 

65 


the  very  beginning  of  its  independent  existence,  Mexico  has 
given  to  pubHc  education  full  recognition  in  the  presidential 
cabinet.  Up  to  1901  national  educational  affairs  were  under 
the  control  of  the  Secretaria  de  Justicia  e  Instruccion  Puhlica. 
By  the  Act  of  May  19  of  that  year  there  was  created  an  indepen- 
dent branch  of  the  cabinet,  known  as  the  Suhsecretaria  de 
Instruccion  Puhlica  y  Bellas  Artes.  Owing  to  its  rapid  develop- 
ment it  was  made  a  full  secretaryship  by  the  law  of  May  16, 
1905.  The  recognition  thus  afforded  the  cause  of  education — 
a  recognition  that  in  point  of  honor  surpasses  that  afforded  by 
our  own  Government— is  justified  by  the  following  figures,  if 
from  no  other  point  of  view.  In  1895-96,  five  years  before  the 
creation  of  the  separate  department,  there  was  expended 
through  the  Secretaria  de  Justicia  e  Instruccion  Puhlica  and  the 
Ayuntamiento  de  Mexico  1,225,248  pesos;  in  1910-11,  ten 
years  after  its  creation,  6,970,056  pesos.  (Fractional  parts  of 
a  peso  are  in  both  cases  omitted.)  Of  these  sums  the  primary 
schools  in  the  Federal  District  alone  received,  for  the  respective 
years,  414,675  pesos  and  3,322,728  pesos.  Including  the 
Federal  Districts,  the  total  expended  by  the  Secretaria  de 
Instruccion  Puhlica  exceeded  4,039,000  pesos  in  the  year  1910.* 

Despite  this  remarkable  showing  on  the  part  of  the  federal 
organization,  it  is  probable  that  the  initiative,  in  primary 
education  at  least,  will  continue  to  be  left  to  the  several  states. 
Even  though  the  urgency  of  the  situation  following  the  present 
state  of  disorganization  may  force  the  central  Government  to 
extend  its  aid  for  the  rehabilitation  of  the  school  systems,  it 
is  not  probable  that  a  centralized  system  of  control  will  be 
adopted.  That  has  been  undertaken  in  some  of  the  South 
American  republics,  but  the  evil  effects  of  it  in  paralyzing 
local  initiative  and  promoting  paternalism  have  been  patent. 
Professor  Ross  in  his  recent  book  on  South  America  points  out 
this  as  a  mistaken  policy.  The  relation  of  the  central  Govern- 
ment to  that  of  the  states  may  well  be  that  which  the  better 
advised  state  governments  sustain  to  the  municipalities — one 
of  cooperation,  of  supervision,  inspection,  and  stimulating 
financial  aid.    Such  ideas  were  expressed  in  a  report  presented 


*Data  furnished  by  E.  A.  C.  from  the  official  reports  of  Don  Miguel  F.  Martinez  and  Dr. 
Luis  E.  Ruiz. 

66 


by  Professor  Chavez  to  the  Minister  of  PubHc  Instruction, 
Jose  Vasconcelos,  in  January,  1915. 

It  is  true  that  there  has  been  no  rule  in  this  matter  of  the 
relation  of  the  state  and  municipaUty.  Those  who  in  the 
future  organize  the  public  schools  of  Mexico  will  find  precedents 
of  all  kinds.  An  example  is  the  work  recently  carried  on  in 
two  important  states,  Coahuila  and  Jalisco.  In  Coahuila 
the  municipalities  carried  the  financial  burden  and  enjoyed 
practical  autonomy,  the  state  intervening  only  in  the  matter  of 
the  selection  of  teachers  and  inspection.  In  Jalisco  the  situa- 
tion is  reversed,  the  state  providing  everything  except  the 
housing  for  the  schools.  The  rehabilitation  that  will  certainly 
take  place  as  soon  as  constitutional  government  is  restored  will 
doubtless  follow  the  lines  laid  down  by  previous  study  and 
experience.  The  public  school  systems  of  the  Mexican  states 
are  not  destroyed,  but  simply  in  abeyance.  The  national 
educational  conference  of  1889  fixed  more  or  less  permanently 
the  schedule  of  studies  and  the  standards  of  administration. 
Afterwards  there  was  progress,  development,  but  no  funda- 
mental change.* 

The  system  thus  generally  adopted  seems  open  to  criticism 
at  one  or  two  points.  The  attempt  to  finish  primary  training 
in  six  years,  for  example,  either  puts  too  hea\'y  a  strain  on  the 
average  student,  or  leaves  a  gap  between  the  grades  and  the 
secondary  school.  Proper  training  for  high  school  students 
seems  to  require  at  least  eight  grades,  meaning  in  the  case  of 
most  pupils  eight  school  years. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is,  of  course,  inevitable  that  the 
rural  and  \illage  schools  should  be  incomplete.  Often  they 
can  not  be  organized  to  supply  all  the  grades.  It  seems 
undesirable,  however,  to  make  this  deficiency  a  definite  and 
probably  permanent  condition  by  drawing  in  law  a  dividing 
line  at  the  end  of  four  years.  The  tendency  at  once  shows 
itself  to  make  the  distinction  thus  introduced  between  * 'ele- 
mentary" and  ''superior"  primary  instruction  one  of  quality, 


*The  last  law  of  primary  instruction  enacted  by  the  Federal  Government  in  the  Diaz  period 
was  issued  Augxist  13,  1908.  It  attempted  to  extend  primary  training  to  seven  years,  and  gave 
an  absolutely  concrete  character  to  the  program  of  courses.  It  undoubtedly  represents  a 
very  considerable  improvement  on  the  standards  fixed  by  the  educational  conference  of  1889. 
The  influence  of  American  models  is  very  apparent. — E.  A.  C. 

67 


not  quantity;  of  kind,  not  degree.  The  outcome  of  this  is  to 
give  the  student  of  the  lower  school  the  impression  that  he 
really  is  not  expected  or  encouraged  to  go  on  into  the  high  school. 
This  is  a  situation  that  lends  itself  to  the  old  discrimination 
between  classes. 

A  report  of  the  subordinate  official  in  charge  of  primary 
instruction  for  the  Federal  District  and  territories  giving 
statistics  for  the  year  1906  was  issued  in  two  bulletins  in  1907. 
Use  is  also  here  made  of  the  report  of  the  superintendent  of 
primary  instruction  in  the  State  of  Coahuila  for  the  same 
year,  and  a  collection  of  statistics  for  the  State  of  Jalisco  for 
the  year  1910.  In  1906  there  were  in  the  Federal  District 
367  public  and  219  private  schools,  with  a  total  enrollment 
of  61,400.  This  is  11 J^  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  In 
the  District  and  territories  the  total  number  of  public  schools 
was  557,  with  59,351  pupils  and  2,371  teachers.  Adding  the 
private  schools,  the  totals  were,  schools,  837;  pupils,  75,865; 
teachers,  3,458,  and  expenditures  for  the  year,  2,250,000  pesos. 
The  same  report  gives  the  total  number  of  primary  schools  for 
the  entire  Republic  as  11,519;  teachers,  19,131;  pupils,  738,813 
— which  is  5.42  per  cent  of  the  population.  The  corresponding 
percentage  is  given  for  France  as  14;  Germany  15;  England  16; 
the  United  States  18. 

In  Coahuila  for  the  school  year  1906-1907  there  were  226 
primary  public  schools  with  499  teachers  and  a  matriculation 
of  24,056  pupils.  There  were  also  57  private  schools  with 
3,634  pupils.  The  total  outlay  from  the  public  treasury  was 
$351,658  (Mexican),  of  which  all  except  the  salaries  and 
expenses  of  the  state  superintendent  and  inspectors  was  borne 
by  the  municipalities.  The  elaborate  and  interesting  official 
report  here  referred  to,  shows  the  amount  per  student  raised 
by  the  different  municipalities,  and  the  percentage  of  the  total 
income  of  these  cities  and  tow^ns  which  was  devoted  to  educa- 
tion. This  percentage  runs  from  12.8,  the  lowest,  to  91.2,  the 
highest,  averaging  apparently  about  40.  The  table  is  an 
impressive  one  for  any  inquirer  who  wishes  some  measure  of 
the  interest  Mexicans  take  in  the  education  of  their  children. 

In  the  State  of  Jalisco  there  were,  in  1909,  1,095  schools,  of 
which  577  were  public  schools  and  518  private.     It  is  rather 

68 


suggestive  that  190  of  the  private  schools  are  classed  as  clerical 
—"del  clero:'  In  these  1,095  schools  were  enrolled  102,060 
pupils.  (The  report  does  not  state  the  total  population,  so 
as  to  exhibit  the  percentage.)  In  this  state,  as  noted  above, 
the  expense  of  the  entire  primary  school  system  is  borne  by 
the  state  government,  the  municipalities  furnishing  only  the 
buildings  and  the  office  expenses  of  local  education  boards. 
The  State's  outlay  for  primary  instruction  in  1909-10  was 
$524,310.50  (Mexican). 

Senor  Chavez  supplies  the  following  data  concerning  primary 
schools  in  the  Federal  District,  for  1910,  the  year  which  marked 
the  high  tide  in  Mexico's  educational  work.  These  statistics 
are  obtained  from  the  report  of  the  Secretario  de  la  Direccidn 
General  de  Instruccion  Primaria  para  el  Distrito  Federal,  2l  sub- 
ordinate official  of  the  Department  of  Public  Instruction: 

Primary  Public  schools  in  the  Federal  District  in  1910 436 

Primary  Private  schools  in  the  Federal  District  in  1910 235 


Total 671 

Teachers  in  the  public  primary  schools  of  the  Federal  District  in  1910  2,559 
Teachers  in  the  private  primary  schools  of  the  Federal  District  in 

1910 973 

Total 3,532 

Pupils  in  the  public  primary  schools  of  the  Federal  District  in  1910. .  90,692 
Pupils  in  the  private  primary  schools  of  the  Federal  District  in  1910  21,386 

Total 112,078 

Total  expenditure  in  the  public  primary  schools  for  the  Federal 
District  under  the  superintendence  of  the  General  Direc- 
tion of  Primary  Instruction $3,322,728.50 


As  a  special  feature  of  the  celebration  of  the  first  centennial 
of  Mexican  independence,  it  was  proposed  to  hold  a  congress 
for  all  the  primary  teachers  in  Mexico.  The  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction  accepted  the  proposal  and  the  first  Congreso 
Nacional  de  Instruccion  Primaria  assembled  in  Mexico  City, 
September,  1910.  At  that  meeting  there  were  collected 
the  most  reliable  data  possible  on  primary,  secondary,  and 
normal  instruction  throughout  the  Republic.     At  the  end  of 

69 


the  sessions  Don  Miguel  Martinez  presented  a  general  sjnithesis 
of  these  statistics,  from  which  Senor  Chavez  presents  the 
following  facts: 

Total  number  of  primary  schools  in  the  Republic  in  1910 12,418 

Total  number  of  teachers  in  the  Republic  in  1910 22,009 

Total  number  of  pupils  in  the  Republic  in  1910 889,511 

Don  Miguel  Martinez  also  reached  the  conclusion  that  the 
percentage  of  enrollment  in  the  primary  schools  of  the  Federal 
District,  16.93  per  cent  of  the  total  population,  surpassed  that 
of  any  other  portion  of  the  Republic.  While  this  can  not  be 
compared  fairly  with  the  percentage  enrolled  in  any  of  the 
countries  mentioned  above,  it  ranks  next  to  that  of  the  United 
States. 

Summarizing  our  results  as  regards  primary  education,  we 
may  set  down  the  following  as  the  status  just  prior  to  the 
recent  political  disturbances: 

1.  The  leaders  of  the  Mexican  people,  political  and  others, 
are  fully  committed  to  the  cause  of  popular  education. 

2.  During  the  three  decades  of  quiet,  from  1880  to  1910, 
the  school  systems  took  form  and  had  rapid  development. 
There  was  so  general  an  agreement  as  to  type  of  school,  courses 
of  study,  manner  of  administration,  etc.,  that  no  radical 
change  is  likely  to  be  introduced  following  the  present  revolu- 
tion. 

3.  The  schools  generally  follow  the  French  rather  than  the 
American  type,*  although  American  influence  has  been  felt 
in  the  Federal  District.  The  primary  course  is  comprised 
within  six  years  or  grades,  four  of  these  usually  called  "ele- 
mentary'' and  the  two  last  "superior." 

4.  By  common  agreement  these  schools  are  "free,  compul- 
sory, and  lay  (or  secular)." 

*The  schools  have  certainly  followed  the  French  rather  than  the  American  type  in  many 
parts  of  the  country;  but  in  Jalapa  the  German  influence  was  important  through  the  teachings 
of  the  distinguished  Professor  Rebsamen;  and  in  the  Federal  District  the  group  of  kinder- 
gartens created  during  the  last  ten  years  of  the  Diaz  r^fgime  are  rather  of  the  type  of  the  Ameri- 
can kindergarten,  and  the  primary  schools  since  the  law  of  1908  have  introduced  several 
distinctively  American  features.  This  law  extended  the  primary  course  to  seven  years  (as 
related  in  the  preceding  note)  and  pointed  out  the  fundamental  lines  for  prevocational  and 
vocational  training. — E.  A.  C. 

70 


5.  They  are  sustained  usually,  as  in  our  own  country,  by 
local  municipalities,  districts,  etc.,  aided  by  the  state  and 
subject  to  state  inspection  and  supervision.  Federal  funds 
have  been  used  for  schools  in  the  Federal  District  more  specially 
since  1896,  which  accounts  for  their  exceptional  progress. 

2.   High  Schools. 

Secondary  education,  the  work  of  preparatory  schools, 
means  one  thing  when  the  ''preparation"  is  for  professional 
studies,  and  another  when  it  is  for  colleges.  In  Mexico,  and 
under  the  French  system,  there  is  really  no  distinctive  place  or 
institution  corresponding  to  our  high  school.  The  French 
lycee,  preparing  for  the  university,  grades  rather  higher, 
including  a  year  or  more  of  what  we  term  college  work.  In 
Mexico  the  place  of  the  lycee  is  taken  by  schools  called  institutos 
or  escuelas  preparatorias.  These  are  central  state  institutions, 
which  should  correspond  to  our  state  colleges  or  universities, 
except  that  their  grading  is  not  as  high.  They  are  in  grade  of 
work  really  not  far  removed  from  our  standard  city  high 
schools,  and  fulfill  usually  quite  as  much  the  function  of  high 
school  for  the  capital  city  in  which  they  are  located  as  that 
of  * 'college"  for  the  entire  state.  Through  lack  of  rigidity  in 
entrance  requirements  and  courses  of  study,  many  of  them 
fail  to  reach  the  level  of  the  corresponding  French  institutions. 

They  do,  to  be  sure,  attempt  some  college  studies.  Their 
courses  are  a  mixture.  Many  of  the  students  are  getting  ready 
for  professional  work,  and  shape  their  studies  accordingly. 
But,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the  chief  defect  about 
the  plan  of  bridging  thus  the  gap  between  primary  and  technical 
studies  is  the  fact  that  the  primary  courses  cover  only  six 
years.  If  students  enter  the  high  school  after  only  six  years 
of  grade  work,  the  high  school  course  must  be  graded  down 
accordingly.  In  the  Mexican  system  the  attempt  has  been 
made  to  remedy  this  by  extending  the  secondary  course  to 
six  years.  The  professional  courses  are  lengthened,  also,  and 
made  to  include  college  as  well  as  technical  branches,  six  years 
in  law  and  medicine  being  at  times  demanded. 

How  the  problem  will  ultimately  be  solved  can  hardly  be 
foretold.     The  simplest  plan  would  seem  to  be  to  lengthen  the 

71 


primary  course.  Despite  the  excellence  of  the  French  system, 
and  the  feeling  that  is  gaining  ground  in  the  United  States 
that  in  both  high  school  and  college  we  are  demanding  too  much 
time  for  cultural  studies  before  professional  training  begins,  it 
is  likely  that  American  influence  will  be  felt  in  the  Mexican 
educational  system  of  the  future.  Many  teachers  from  that 
country  will  secure  their  higher  training  in  our  schools,  and 
will,  even  unconsciously,  adjust  their  work  in  some  measure 
to  the  standards  prevailing  here.  Either  there  will  be  a  sep- 
arate development  of  the  municipal  and  private  high  schools, 
or  the  primary  schools  will  be  made  to  include  more  grades, 
so  that  the  institutos  and  allied  private  establishments  may,  like 
the  French  lyc^es,  become  a  kind  of  junior  college.  The  latter 
would  seem  to  be  the  line  of  least  resistance. 

On  the  general  subject  of  preparatory  education  in  Latin 
America,  Dr.  Brandon,  whose  admirable  monograph  on  Latin- 
American  universities  has  already  been  referred  to,  has  a 
comprehensive  paragraph  (p.  22) : 

"Secondary  education  in  Latin  America  usually  covers  six  years  and  is 
based  on  an  elementary  school  course  of  equal  length.  In  a  few  countries 
the  elementary  course  extends  over  seven  years,  and  in  some  the  secondary 
school  is  reduced  to  five.  The  two  school  periods  never  exceed  twelve 
years,  and  in  some  nations  comprise  but  eleven.  It  is  not  the  province  of 
this  work  to  treat  of  secondary  schools,  but  in  order  to  define  somewhat 
the  university  entrance  requirements  it  may  be  said  that  the  Latin-American 
high  school  offers  less  in  mathematics  and  considerably  less  in  laboratory 
science  than  the  corresponding  institution  in  North  America,*  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  regularly  includes  such  subjects  as  psychology,  logic,  political 
economy,  and  philosophy.  In  very  few  countries  are  the  ancient  classics 
taught,  but  everywhere  much  importance  is  given  to  modern  languages,  and 
at  least  two  are  included  in  every  high  school  course  that  leads  to  the  uni- 
versity. The  secondary  school  curriculum  is,  therefore,  comprehensive, 
and  the  student  should  enter  the  university  possessing  a  reasonably  broad 
mental  vision.  The  age  of  the  liceo  graduate  is  about  the  same  as  that  of 
the  American  boy  when  he  finishes  the  high  school.  The  Latin  American 
is  perhaps  superior  in  breadth  of  vision,  cosmopolitan  sympathy,  power  of 
expression,  and  argumentative  ability,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  perhaps 
inferior  in  the  powers  of  analysis  and  initiative  and  in  the  spirit  of  self- 
reliance." 


*The  mathematical  studies  in  the  Eacuela  Nacional  Preparatoria  in  Mexico  City  have  gen- 
erally reached  from  advanced  arithmetic  to  analytical  geometry  and  infinitesimal  calculus. 
The  teaching  of  the  laboratory  sciences  was  considerably  improved  during  the  last  ten  years 
of  the  Diaz  rc^^gime,  often  following  as  standards  the  institutions  of  the  United  States  and 
Germany. — E.  A.  C. 

72 


3.  Professional  and  Technical  Schools 

The  faculties  of  jurisprudence  and  medicine  were  com- 
ponents of  the  early  colonial  universities.  For  a  good  while 
licenses  for  these  professions  could  be  secured  only  in  the 
metropolitan  university  of  Mexico  City.  Later,  as  population 
increased  in  the  provinces,  charters  were  issued — in  view  of  the 
difficulties  and  expense  of  travel  to  the  capital — for  various 
provincial  schools  of  law  and  medicine.  At  different  periods 
in  their  history  some  of  these  faculties,  along  with  those  of 
Mexico  City,  acquired  much  fame  because  of  their  members 
who  were  men  of  real  scholarship  and  skill  in  their  professions. 
It  is  not  important  to  the  present  purpose  to  enter  upon  a 
detailed  study  of  these  institutions,  past  or  present.  They 
will  doubtless  continue  to  be  developed,  as  in  the  past,  to  meet 
the  demands  of  a  growing  civilization. 

Schools  of  engineering  have  not  had  so  long  a  history. 
Most  of  the  states,  however,  have  begun  to  offer  courses  in 
civil,  mining,  and  hydrographic  engineering  among  the  studies 
of  their  institutos.  In  Mexico  City  a  School  of  Mines  was 
founded  more  than  a  century  ago.  It  has  now  become  the 
Escuela  Nacional  de  Ingenieros;  and  has  had  an  honorable 
record,  having  sent  out  many  famous  engineers  and  mining 
experts.  Among  them  Senor  Chavez  mentions  a  most  efficient 
group  of  recent  geologists,  including  many  of  those  hydrog- 
raphers  who  directed  the  recent  drainage  projects  in  the 
Valley  of  Mexico. 

In  addition  to  their  merely  cultural  work — to  its  subordina- 
tion, in  fact — several  of  the  state  institutes  have  largely  become 
technical  schools.  An  illustration  is  the  1908  program  of  the 
Instituto  Cientifico  y  Liter ario  of  the  State  of  San  Luis  Potosi. 
It  lays  down  a  preparatory  course  of  five  years,  and  offers 
besides  professional  studies  for  the  following  callings:  law, 
notary  public,  medicine,  pharmacy,  midwifery,  mining  engineer- 
ing, topographical  and  hydrometric  engineering,  chemical 
assaying.  The  law  course  and  the  medical  course  each  cover 
five  years;  the  engineering  courses  four  years;  the  others,  three 
years.  The  document  in  question  is  merely  the  outline  of 
courses,  and  gives  no  information  as  to  the  number  of  students 
taking  them.     The  requirement  seems  to  be  that,  with  a  few 

73 


specified  exceptions,  all  who  enter  the  professional  courses 
must  first  complete  the  five  years  of  preparatory  work.  The 
importance  of  mining  and  civil  engineering  in  a  country  like 
Mexico  is  manifest.  It  has  not  escaped  the  attention  of  the 
legislatures  there,  and,  no  doubt,  schools  of  engineering  will 
continue  to  be  provided  to  meet  a  wide  and  growing  demand. 

Mention  should  be  made  here  of  the  Escuela  Nacional  de 
Bellas  Artes,  and  the  Conservatorio  Nacional  de  Music,  which 
have  had  a  long  and  noteworthy  history  in  promoting  archi- 
tecture, sculpture,  painting,  and  music,  in  all  of  which  the 
Mexican  people  exhibit  noteworthy  talent. 

4.  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Schools 

These  are  classed  apart  from  the  technical  schools  for  a 
special  reason.  The  Spanish  hidalgo  objected  to  manual  labor 
as  beneath  his  dignity.  In  an  issue  between  going  hungry  and 
working,  he  would  go  hungry.  This  inherited  pride  has  in 
some  measure  affected  public  sentiment  in  Mexico.  Agri- 
culture has  languished  and  mechanic  arts  have  stagnated. 
About  the  only  effort  to  remedy  this  has  been  the  establish- 
ment in  various  states  of  industrial  schools  for  boys,  and  the 
introduction  of  manual  training  in  some  of  the  primary  schools. 
Almost  nothing  seems  to  have  been  done  in  agricultural  educa- 
tion. In  view  of  the  richness  of  Mexico's  soil,  the  demands 
of  a  population  of  fifteen  millions  of  people,  and  the  peculiar 
climatic  conditions  under  which  agriculture  must  be  carried 
on,  the  need  for  scientific  agricultural  training  is  self-evident. 
The  impoverishment  of  the  country  following  the  current 
wars  will  make  some  development  of  this  type  of  education 
peculiarly  opportune.  Here,  as  nowhere  else,  Mexico  should 
learn  from  the  United  States — though  even  in  our  own  country 
only  a  beginning  has  been  made.* 

The  state  industrial  schools  have  usually  been  primary 
boarding-schools  for  boys.  They  are  apt  to  be  under  military 
discipline,  and  are  largely  correctional.  Most  of  the  boys  are 
waifs  or  delinquents,  and  they  are  occupied  in  such  arts  as 


♦The  real  reasons  for  the  poverty  of  the  work  done  in  agricultural  education  have  been  the 
extreme  scarcity  of  properly  trained  teachers,  and  the  facility  with  which  the  soil  produces 
all  sorts  of  crops  in  many  parts  of  the  land  without  extra  effort.  The  old  prejudice  against 
manual  labor  practically  disappeared  many  years  ago. — E.  A.  C. 

74 


help  to  make  the  institution  self-sustaining,  and  at  the  same 
time  fit  the  students  themselves  to  become  self-sustaining 
citizens.  The  writer  has  had  considerable  personal  observation 
of  the  Escitela  Industrial  Militar  of  the  State  of  San  Luis 
Potosi,  a  school  which  has  been  in  operation  since  the  very- 
early  eighties.  It  is  housed  in  the  cloisters  of  an  old  Augustin- 
ian  convent.  Carpentering,  blacksmithing,  printing,  litho- 
graphing, and  other  industries  are  taught  by  practice.  The 
school  does  all  the  state  printing,  lithographing,  etc.,  and 
also  outside  job-work.  It  turns  out  handsome  furniture  and 
other  woodwork.  It  is  equipped  with  baths,  playgrounds, 
machinery,  etc.,  and  maintains  an  excellent  student  orchestra. 
It  is  apparent  that  most  of  the  other  states  have  similar  institu- 
tions, several  of  which  have  been  in  operation  since  1867.  * 

Manual  training  has  been  generally  introduced  in  the 
pubhc  schools,  but  not  greatly  developed.  It  has  been  espe- 
cially insisted  on  in  the  schools  for  girls.  The  lack  of  suitably 
trained  teachers  has,  naturally,  been  the  chief  obstacle  to  its 
development.  Seiior  Chavez  states  that  since  1867  Mexico 
City  has  had  industrial  schools  for  both  boys  and  girls  that  are 
not  correctional.  The  school  for  girls  had  an  enrolment  of 
more  than  a  thousand  during  the  last  year  of  the  Diaz  regime. 
At  the  same  time  several  primary  schools  in  Mexico  City  gave 
some  vocational  training. 

5.   Normal  Schools 

Any  view  of  the  educational  situation  in  Mexico,  past  or 
present,  is  sure  to  bring  out  in  strong  relief  two  of  its  perennial 
needs,  namely,  money  and  teachers.  As  concerns  the  public 
school  system,  these  are  fundamentally  one,  since  the  training 
of  additional  teachers  has  long  been  purely  a  question  of  more 
funds. 

The  state  normal  schools,  as  a  part  of  the  public  school 
system  developed  during  the  last  four  decades,  concern  them- 


*The  State  of  Chihuahua  had  such  a  school  under  the  progressive  administration  of  Gov- 
ernor Ahumada.  Professor  Cox,  who  visited  the  school  in  1898  and  describes  it  in  the  San 
Antonio  Express  for  August  26  of  that  year,  was  informed  that  this  and  other  schools  of  the 
state  had  at  first  followed  the  example  set  by  the  mission  schools  maintained  in  Chihuahua  by 
the  Congregational  Church;  but  when  the  state  officials  subsidized  these  state  schools  liberally, 
they  soon  surpassed  their  church  models  in  material  equipment  and  in  number  of  students. — 
I.  J.  C. 

75 


selves  only  with  the  training  of  teachers  for  primary  schools. 
The  normal  schools  are  thus  properly  looked  upon  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  primary  school  system.  Most  of  the  states  have 
now  provided  such  institutions.  Zacatecas  and  San  Luis 
Potosi  dispute  between  them  the  primacy  in  time.  Vera 
Cruz  was  very  early  given  a  place  of  prominence,  through  the 
work  of  Professor  Enrique  C.  Rebsamen,  who  was  later  attached 
to  the  Department  of  Public  Instruction. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  once  or  twice  during  the  period 
covered  by  the  Lancasterian  system,  provision  was  made  for  a 
kind  of  normal  training  for  teachers.  The  central  governing 
board  at  Mexico  City  had  a  school  there,  and  several  of  the 
state  boards  followed  its  example.  Mention  has  already  been 
made  of  the  provisions  for  free  scholarships  in  a  Lancasterian 
normal  school  made  by  a  very  early  law  of  the  State  of  JaHsco. 

But  official  normal  training  did  not  begin  to  assume  a 
systematic  character  till  the  time  of  the  final  inauguration  of 
republican  government  following  the  French  intervention. 
The  more  progressive  states  practically  all  began  to  make 
provision  for  the  training  of  teachers  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventh  decade.  It  is  needless  to  recount  here  the  struggles 
through  which  the  normal  schools  had  to  pass,  along  with 
every  other  department  of  the  civil  administration,  by  reason 
of  the  impoverishment  of  the  country  during  a  long  period  of 
warfare.  Few  of  them  made  any  considerable  headway  for  a 
whole  decade.  In  the  eighties,  however,  began  their  reorganiza- 
tion and  financial  rehabihtation.  By  the  time  of  the  first 
national  educational  congress,  in  1889,  it  was  possible  to  reach 
a  measure  of  agreement  as  to  courses  of  study,  methods  of 
administration,  etc.  It  is  a  matter  of  satisfaction  that  the 
states  have  so  generally  recognized  their  obligation  to  under- 
take this  work.  Though  even  yet  a  few  of  them  have  not 
organized  normal  schools,  and  though  there  is  still  among  the 
schools  organized  a  good  deal  of  variation  as  to  equipment  in 
buildings,  scholarship,  and  financial  support,  the  system  is 
fairly  under  way.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  the  most 
vital  element  in  the  whole  educational  enterprise  in  Mexico. 
Sooner  or  later  there  should  be  one  or  more  teachers'  colleges 
for  the  training  of  teachers  for  high  school  work,   normal 

76 


professorships,  etc.;  but  the  great  task  of  preparing  the  young 
men  and  women  who  are  to  teach  in  the  primary  schools  of 
the  country  must  rest  upon  these  state-supported  normal 
schools.  Some  of  the  Protestant  missions  have  very  wisely 
devoted  a  part  of  their  educational  funds  to  normal  training, 
especially  for  girls.  This  work  has  been  made  to  conform  to 
the  official  curriculum,  and  has  been  warmly  welcomed  by  the 
state  officials.  Nowhere,  as  yet,  have  the  states  been  able  to 
train  a  sufficient  number  of  teachers  to  meet  the  demands. 
And  in  no  part  of  the  Mexican  educational  system  can  outside 
help  of  a  financial  kind  be  introduced  so  easily  and  so  fruit- 
fully as  at  this  point.  Additional  scholarships  in  the  state 
schools  or  in  approved  mxission  schools  would  supplem.ent 
effectively  the  efforts  of  the  states  to  meet  the  demands  for 
teachers  that  press  upon  them  from  every  side.  * 

The  course  of  studies  in  the  state  normal  schools  covers 
usually  four  years,  with  an  added  year  of  practice,  or  five  years 
with  a  specified  proportion  of  time  throughout  the  course 
given  to  teaching  in  model  or  other  schools,  f  It  embraces 
mostly  the  same  studies  required  in  other  secondary  schools, 
with  special  topics  added.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the  primary 
schools  stop  with  the  sixth  grade,  leaving  two  years  of  grade 
work  to  be  pro\aded  for  in  the  high  schools.  In  some  institu- 
tions a  distinction  has  been  drawn  between  training  for  ele- 
mentary work  and  training  for  teaching  the  whole  primary 
course,  including  the  two  years  called  ''superior."  A  more 
general  rule  is  to  require  all  teachers  to  take  the  full  course 
before  receiving  their  title  of  ''professor."  This  title  is  looked 
upon  in  Mexico  as  similar  to  that  of  lawyer  or  physician.  It 
is  at  once  a  degree  conferred  by  the  school  and  a  license  ex- 
tended by  the  state.  It  corresponds  to  the  "life-certificate" 
sometimes  granted  in  our  country.     The  close  co-ordination  of 


*A  college  for  the  training  of  high  school  teachers  was  established  in  the  Escuela  Nacional 
de  Altos  Estudios  of  the  National  University  of  Mexico  in  1913.  Needless  to  say  the  disturbed 
condition  since  then  has  not  permitted  this  brilliant  and  earnest  beginning  to  be  developed 
adequately.     A  few  well-organized  courses  have  been  continued. — E.  A.  C. 

tSefior  Chavez  reports  that  the  course  of  studies  in  the  two  federal  normal  schools  of  Mexico 
City  has  generally  covered  five  years,  not  counting  the  practice  teaching.  The  institution  for 
men,  visited  by  Professor  Cox  in  1911,  was  adequately  housed  and  well  equipped,  with  a 
faculty  and  student  body  apparently  greatly  interested  in  their  work. — I.  J.  C, 

77 


the  state  with  its  normal  schools  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  the 
degree  of  the  school  is  the  state  license  to  teach. 

It  has  generally  been  customary  to  put  the  president  of  the 
state  normal  at  the  head  of  whatever  state  organization  there 
is  for  administering  primary  instruction.  This  usually  includes 
a  system  of  inspection,  and  sometimes  also  the  right  not  only 
to  license  but  to  appoint  teachers.  The  system  is  an  excellent 
one  when  conducted  by  a  progressive  and  efficient  man. 
Otherwise — when  made  a  matter  of  politics,  for  example — it 
is  apt  to  degenerate  into  a  travesty. 

The  scholarships  granted  to  students  in  the  state  normals, 
should,  according  to  the  judgment  of  those  most  familiar  with 
conditions,  barely  cover  the  cost  of  board  and  lodging.  The 
state  usually  furnishes  the  books  and  other  supplies.  Students 
and  their  families  should  be  encouraged  to  provide  clothes, 
pocket  money,  and  other  personal  needs.  It  is  true,  usually, 
that  the  students  come  from  the  very  poorest  families.  The 
well-to-do  are  not  attracted  to  the  profession  of  teaching:  the 
pay  is  too  small.  They  expect  to  enter  more  lucrative  callings. 
Another  reason  is  that  the  Church  frowns  upon  these  secular 
normal  schools  as  the  backbone  of  the  whole  * 'irreligious' ' 
public  school  system,  which  is  anathema.  This  pressure  on 
the  conscience  of  the  devout  results  in  a  measure  of  social 
ostracism,  too;  so  that  ultimately  it  is  the  very  poor  boys  and 
girls,  with  nothing  to  lose,  who  brave  all  and  go  to  the  state 
normal  schools. 

The  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  separate  schools  for  the 
sexes,  which  has  long  prevailed  in  Mexico,  affects  the  plans  for 
normal  schools,  too.  Nearly  all  the  older  ones  are  rigidly 
divided.  But  in  a  good  many  places  scarcity  of  funds  has 
made  it  so  difficult  to  provide  two  buildings  and  two  sets  of 
teachers,  that  mixed  schools  have  been  tried.  These,  apparent- 
ly to  the  surprise  of  all  concerned,  have  been  quite  successful. 
Only  girls  of  a  good  deal  of  character  and  force  would  front 
the  prejudice  and  social  pressure  involved  in  attending  such  a 
school.  Naturally,  those  of  sufficient  strength  to  do  this  have 
in  the  test  shown  also  the  poise  and  concentration  necessary 
to  take  them  creditably  through  a  new  and  trying  situation. 

78 


One  of  the  first  measures  to  follow  the  present  disturbed  con- 
ditions in  Mexico,  as  soon  as  peace  is  again  established,  will  be 
the  rehabilitation  of  the  normal  schools.  The  people  will 
clamor  more  than  ever  for  teachers  for  their  children,  and 
they  will  refuse  to  be  satisfied  with  makeshifts.  The  standards 
have  already  been  raised,  and  the  requirements  to  be  met  by 
one  who  assumes  to  teach  are  pretty  generally  known.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  henceforth  in  politics,  as  well  as  in  pedagogy, 
the  Mexican  people  will  refuse  to  be  satisfied  with  pretense  and 
show.  With  the  debilitated  condition  of  the  public  treasury 
and  the  disorganization  of  civil  administration,  coupled  with 
reduced  production  in  agriculture,  mining,  and  commerce, 
the  states  will  face  in  this  matter  of  normal  training  gigantic 
difficulties.     Help  rendered  now  will  be  help  indeed. 

6.    Universities 

The  University  of  Mexico,  and  that  of  Lima,  Peru,  were 
authorized  the  same  year,  1551.  They  are,  therefore,  the 
oldest  institutions  for  higher  education  on  the  American 
continent.  The  school  in  Mexico  has  not  had,  however,  a 
continuous  history.  Opened  in  1553,  two  years  after  the  royal 
authorization,  it  continued  throughout  the  colonial  period, 
and  even  survived  the  revolution  of  1810-21.  From  the 
beginning  it  was  occupied  primarily  with  theology  and  juris- 
prudence, and  therefore  its  faculty  of  letters  became  gradually 
a  secondary  matter.  By  the  time  that  a  separate  national 
life  for  Mexico  began,  cultural  studies  were  at  a  low  ebb. 
The  doctor's  degree  from  the  University  of  Mexico  had  become 
a  matter  of  scoffing,  and  only  the  schools  of  law,  medicine,  and 
theology  kept  their  prestige.  Later,  theology  also  gradually 
lost  its  hold,  as  the  Church  ceased  to  dominate  in  the  Govern- 
ment; and  only  law  and  medicine  remained.  As  these  involved 
professional  licenses,  they  became  in  time  the  football  of  politics, 
and  thus  at  last  the  University  fell  upon  hard  lines.  Once  or 
twice  it  was  suppressed,  then  revived.  Finally,  just  following 
the  French  intervention,  it  was  dissolved  into  its  constituent 
parts.  The  school  of  medicine  remainded,  and  the  school  of 
law,  and  also  the  engineering  school,  but  the  University  ceased 
to  be.  In  1910,  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  centenary  of  national 
independence,  provision  was  made  for  reviving  it,  but  soon 

79 


afterward  political  dissensions  once  more  began,  the  Govern- 
ment of  Diaz  fell,  and  the  plans  have  since  been  in  abeyance.  * 

Several  provincial  universities,  were,  as  we  have  seen, 
opened  from  time  to  time  in  New  Spain.  They  sm^ve  now 
in  the  state  Institutos  and  in  theological  seminaries  conducted 
by  the  Catholic  Church. 

On  the  general  type  of  the  Latin-American  university,  to 
which  those  of  Mexico,  of  course,  conformed,  one  can  not  do 
better  than  again  to  quote  Dr.  Brandon  (page  12) : 

"It  is  needless  to  look  for  individuality  in  these  institutions.  All  owe 
their  origin  to  the  same  influence,  and  their  organization  was  essentially 
uniform.  The  Church  was  the  prime  mover  in  their  establishment,  although 
influential  laymen  holding  high  political  positions  contributed  notably  to 
their  foundation.  The  principal  object  of  each  university  was  to  promote 
the  cause  of  religion  in  the  colonies  by  providing  an  educated  clergy 
numerous  enough  to  care  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  settlers  and  to 
further  the  work  of  evangelization  among  the  natives.  The  central  depart- 
ment of  the  institution  was  the  faculty  of  letters  and  philosophy,  through 
which  all  students  must  pass  on  their  way  to  professional  schools.  The 
latter  were  exceedingly  limited  in  the  colonial  university.  There  was  a 
department  of  civil  and  canon  law,  but  the  former  was  overshadowed  in 
the  ecclesiastical  organization  of  the  institution,  and  had  to  await  the  era 
of  national  independence  before  coming  to  its  own.  The  university  usually 
contained  a  professorship  of  medicine,  but  prior  to  the  nineteenth  century 
it  was  the  medicine  of  the  medieval  schoolmen,  academic  and  empirical. 
The  one  professional  school  that  flourished  was  the  faculty  of  theology. 
It  was  for  it  that  the  university  was  created,  and  to  it  led  all  academic 
avenues. 

"Clerical  in  its  origin  and  purpose,  the  colonial  university  was  also 
clerical  in  its  government.  Theoretically  the  corporation  enjoyed  large 
autonomy,  since  it  formulated  its  rules  and  regulations,  chose  its  officers 
and  selected  professors  for  vacant  chairs.  '  But  this  autonomy  was  largely 
illusory.     The  professors  were  almost  exclusively  members  of  the  priest- 


*In  1911,  the  function  of  the  preparatory  school  corresponding  to  our  commencement  was 
a  brilHant  occasion,  graced  by  the  presence  of  the  Rector,  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction, 
and  by  the  then  Acting  President,  Senor  de  la  Barra.  Original  poems,  orations,  instrumental 
music,  and  even  fencing  bouts,  appeared  on  the  program.  Each  student  received  his  diploma 
personally  from  the  Acting  President.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  among  the  number  there 
was  a  full-blooded  Tlascalan  Indian,  who  received  more  than  the  customary  share  of  applause. 
In  answer  to  an  inquiry  Professor  Cox  was  informed  that  it  had  taken  him  two  years  longer 
than  the  customary  term  to  get  the  diploma,  but  that  in  recognition  of  his  final  success,  his 
companions  were  giving  him  what  we  should  term  "the  glad  hand."  Professor  Chavez  states 
that  under  the  dictatorship  of  Huerta  the  authority  of  the  University  was  considerably  in- 
creased, but  that  since  then  it  has  occupied  an  anomalous  position,  at  one  time  under  the 
immediate  control  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  and  at  another  under  that  of  the 
Rector,  according  to  the  influence  of  either. — I.  J.  C. 

80 


hood,  and  as  such  owed  impHcit  obedience  to  the  bishop,  and,  in  addition, 
the  election  of  officers  and  new  professors  required  the  confirmation  of  the 
prelate.  University  autonomy  was,  therefore,  carefully  circumscribed  by 
church  prerogative,  and  its  equivocal  form  of  government  has  been  trans- 
mitted with  little  change  to  modern  times,  except  that  the  State  has  taken 
the  place  of  the  Church.  Several  universities  of  the  colonial  era  owe  their 
foundation  to  one  or  another  of  the  great  religious  orders.  In  these  cases 
the  order  equipped,  manned,  and  directed  the  school,  subject,  of  course, 
to  papal  authority  and  to  the  immediate  oversight  of  the  bishop."* 

B  —  PRIVATE  SCHOOLS 

Under  this  head  are  grouped  not  only  the  schools  due  to 
individual  initiative,  but  also  the  two  large  classes  of  church 
schools,  those  maintained  by  the  Catholic  hierarchy  and  those 
established  and  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  Protestant 
mission  boards.  Concerning  the  latter  a  brief  monograph  has 
already  been  prepared.  It  seems  to  cover  that  subject  with 
sufficient  minuteness  for  our  present  purpose,  and  it  is  therefore 
inserted  without  change. 

1.  Mission  Schools 

Educational  work  from  the  first  has  been  an  important 
part  of  the  propaganda  of  the  various  Protestant  boards 
(mostly  American)  sustaining  work  in  Mexico.  These  missions 
were  established,  most  of  them,  in  the  seventies  and  early 
eighties.  In  those  days  there  was  only  a  beginning  of  public 
schools,  and  anything  that  the  missionaries  undertook  in  the 
v/ay  of  schools  was  heartily  welcomed.  The  people  were 
pleased,  and  even  the  Government  looked  with  favor  on  these 
undertakings. 

Mission  schools  have  naturally  fallen  into  three  general 
groups:  (1)  the  primary  day  schools,  (2)  the  mixed  primary 
and  secondary  schools,  with  both  boarding  and  day  pupils,  the 
work  sometimes  advancing  to  include  high  school  or  preparatory 
grades,  and  (3)  the  special  schools,  usually  normal  and  theo- 
logical. 

Of  these  groups  the  first  gradually  gave  way,  especially  in 
the  centers  of  population,  before  the  advancing  efficiency  of 


*There  is  a  profound  difference  between  the  old  University  of  Mexico  and  the  new  one,  as 
shown  by  the  spirit  and  breadth  of  teaching  and  by  the  point  of  view.  It  is  the  difference 
between  scholasticism  and  science;  between  medieval  times  and  the  twentieth  centiiry. — 
E.  A.  C. 

81 


the  public  schools.  It  is  still  employed  to  great  advantage, 
however,  by  many  of  the  mission  stations  in  the  villages  and 
smaller  towns.  The  demoralization  resulting  from  current 
revolutions  will  bring  a  renewed  demand  for  this  simple  and 
effective  agency.  The  cost  is  slight — the  chapel  or  rented  hall 
used  for  worship  serving,  also,  as  schoolroom,  and  a  young 
Mexican  teacher  having  entire  charge.  These  schools  reach 
children  of  the  very  poorest  classes,  the  people  who  have  no 
social  standing  to  sacrifice,  and  result  often  in  developing 
most  promising  material  in  most  unexpected  quarters. 

Boarding-schools  for  girls  have  been  especially  effective. 
Mexican  famihes  like  to  have  their  daughters  in  an  institution 
where  they  are  both  taught  and  cared  for.  These  girls'  schools, 
of  which  almost  every  denomination  sustains  several  in  Mexico, 
have  succeeded  in  reaching  well-to-do  families,  as  has  no  other 
mission  agency.  The  teaching  of  English  and  of  music,  as 
well  as  the  scientific  and  modem  instruction  in  other  branches, 
has  commended  them  to  intelligent  and  educated  citizens. 
They  have  been  distinctly  the  most  attractive  institutions  of 
their  class.  The  public  schools  for  girls  are  generally  looked 
upon  as  plebeian,  and  the  Catholic  schools  were  rather  in- 
efficient. In  only  a  few  of  the  larger  cities  were  there  private 
seminaries.  Thus  it  has  come  about  that  these  schools  have 
been  well  patronized  by  people  able  and  willing  to  pay  sub- 
stantial fees  for  tuition.  The  work  ranged  from  the  primary 
and  even  kindergarten  upward,  rarely  extending  above  the 
eighth  grade,  and  was  projected  on  the  American  plan  and,  in 
many  instances,  carried  on  in  English. 

Boarding-schools  for  boys  have  not  been  equally  popular. 
With  the  same  outlay  they  might  have  done  practically  as  well. 
But  the  women's  boards  of  the  churches  devoted  their  funds 
almost  exclusively  to  girls'  schools,  and  there  was  no  similar 
organization  to  concern  itself  with  schools  for  boys.  Money 
for  such  institutions  was  not  easy  to  get.  It  was  difficult  to 
make  them  anywhere  near  self-sustaining.  Parents  were  more 
willing  to  let  boys  take  their  chances  in  the  public  schools. 
Nevertheless,  not  a  few  successful  boys'  schools  were  carried 
on — combined  boarding  and  day-schools,  usually.  They 
graded  up  rather  better,  perhaps,  than  the  schools  for  girls,  as 

82 


boys  consumed  less  time  in  music  and  other  extras.  Still, 
very  few  of  these  carried  any  appreciable  number  of  boys 
through  high  school  grades. 

The  missionary  institutions  that  did  this  high  school  or 
preparatory  work,  usually  on  the  basis  of  the  American  plan 
of  grading  (though  the  French  system  is  employed  by  the 
Mexican  state  schools),  were  for  the  most  part  those  of  the 
third  class,  the  special  schools  for  training  preachers,  teachers, 
and  other  workers.  Two  or  three  really  excellent  normal 
schools  for  girls  were  developed.  They  adopted  usually  the 
standard  state  program  of  studies,  and  their  graduates  became 
accepted  and  acceptable  teachers  in  the  public  schools.  Of 
these  graduates  there  was  never  a  tithe  of  the  number 
demanded. 

The  training  schools  for  ministers  and  other  workers — the 
sexes  remaining  rigidly  separated  through  the  whole  course  of 
schools — have  usually  been  compromise  institutions.  They 
were  designed  to  bring  about  prompt  and  practical  results,  and 
their  courses  of  study  were  usually  a  mixture  of  preparatory, 
college,  and  theological  branches,  in  such  proportions  as  seemed 
to  the  managers  to  promise  the  best  outcome.  Some  of  them 
attempted  formal  seminary  courses — usually,  it  must  be 
allowed,  on  a  rather  flimsy  foundation.  In  others  emphasis 
was  given  primarily  to  the  usual  high  school  and  early  college 
subjects. 

Such  were  the  Protestant  educational  institutions  in 
Mexico.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  wars  have  pretty  effectually 
wrecked  them,  especially  the  most  substantial  and  prosperous 
class  of  them,  the  girls'  boarding-schools.  However,  many  of 
these  own  valuable  properties,  and  doubtless  they  will  be 
rapidly  rehabilitated  when  peace  returns.  These  Protestant 
educational  plants,  especially  the  boys'  schools,  have  exercised 
an  influence  on  the  life  of  the  people  all  out  of  proportion  to 
the  money  and  attention  given  them.  The  number  of  real 
leaders  coming  to  the  front  during  the  present  disturbances, 
purely  through  personal  merit,  who  got  their  training  in 
evangelical  schools,  is  most  surprising.  It  shows  that  had 
Mexico  had  for  the  past  three  decades  one  or  two  genuine 
colleges,   their  influence  now  would   be   decisive.     Doubtless 

83 


the  effects  of  the  training  of  large  numbers  of  girls  are  equally- 
substantial  and  valuable,  though  not  so  readily  appraised. 

2.  Catholic  Schools 

Even  after  the  revolution  of  1821,  the  Roman  Cathohc 
Church  in  Mexico  continued,  as  we  have  seen,  in  a  quasi- 
official  relation  to  the  Government.  Such  educational  work  as 
was  undertaken  for  two  or  three  decades  was  largely  under  its 
supervision,  and  the  teachers  were  mostly  monks,  priests,  and 
nuns.  When  at  length  the  final  separation  between  Church 
and  State  was  achieved,  it  was  accompanied  by  collisions  so 
violent  that  much  hostility  resulted.  A  profound  distrust  of 
the  ecclesiastical  leaders  was  engendered  among  the  men  who 
were,  or  became,  members  of  the  Government.  The  Church 
thus  lost  its  place  of  intellectual  leadership,  and  it  has  never 
regained  it.  Its  case  in  the  matter  of  education  was  made  all 
the  more  difficult  by  the  abolition  of  the  religious  orders. 
The  monasteries  and  convents  had  been  headquarters  for  the 
schools.  They  supplied  both  the  teachers  and  the  school- 
rooms. Deprived  of  them,  the  clergy  were  helpless.  Practi- 
cally nothing  was  left  for  them  but  a  few  theological  seminaries, 
and  in  the  cities  primary  schools  here  and  there,  and  an  oc- 
casional academy,  housed  in  private  quarters,  or  sheltered  in 
the  cloisters  of  some  old  convent  building  that  by  private 
generosity  or  governmental  connivance  was  still  in  their  hands. 
Many  of  these  primary  schools,  however,  grew  to  considerable 
proportions,  leading  in  some  cases  to  the  violation  of  the  law 
in  regard  to  persons  under  vows  living  in  the  same  house. 
The  theological  schools  and  academies  were  usually  slenderly 
patronized. 

During  the  later  years  of  the  administration  of  President 
Diaz,  the  enforcement  of  the  law  against  monastic  orders  was 
very  lax.  Troubles  in  Italy  and  Spain  sent  many  monks  and 
nuns  to  Mexico;  and  the  Jesuits  especially  went  vigorously  to 
work  again  to  build  up  schools  of  higher  grade.  The  people 
are  even  yet  disposed  to  place  their  children  in  the  care  of  the 
Church.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  wealthy  families. 
Hfnce  all  these  schools  prospered,  despite  the  fact  that  they 
were  in  a  measure  illegal.  The  expulsion  from  Mexico  of 
foreign  monks  and  nuns  by  the  revolutionists  of  1913-1915  has 

84 


caused  much  adverse  comment.  But  it  should  be  recalled 
that  these  men  and  women  were  in  Mexico  in  direct  con- 
travention of  the  law.  Until  the  Catholic  Church  is  prepared 
to  develop  lay  teachers,  and  to  adjust  its  educational  work  to 
the  principle  of  complete  separation  from  the  State,  and  of 
absolute  submission  to  law,  it  will  continue  to  encounter 
stumbling-blocks  in  Mexico. 

3.  Private  Schools 

The  demand  for  education  in  Mexico  is  so  active  that  in 
almost  all  the  cities  of  that  country  competent  teachers  have 
built  up  successful  and  lucrative  private  academies.  Many  of 
these  have  been  aided  by  the  good  will  of  the  Church  authorities. 
Their  claim  on  public  attention  has  been  partly  in  their  select 
quality,  partly  in  their  emphasis  on  rehgion,  but  mostly  in  the 
superior  ability  of  their  teachers.  Like  private  schools  else- 
where, they  have  tended  to  rise  and  fall  with  the  personality 
of  the  teachers  who  built  them  up. 

Another  distinct  class  of  schools  has  attained  a  considerable 
measure  of  success,  especially  in  the  larger  cities — the  com- 
mercial school  or  business  * 'college."  Like  its  counterpart 
among  us,  this  school  has  offered  a  course  combining  theory 
and  practice,  and  has  reached  a  standard  of  efficiency  that 
could  be  taken  as  a  measure  of  the  competence  and  con- 
scientiousness of  the  principal.  Nearly  all  these  schools 
emphasize — besides  the  usual  bookkeeping,  shorthand,  and 
typewriting — the  study  of  arithmetic  and  of  English.  As 
promising  an  easy  road  for  young  fellows  into  salaried  positions, 
they  have  been  well  patronized. 


85 


VIII  — ADDITIONAL  TOPICS 

Summary 

Three  topics  are  considered:  revenues,  supply  of  teachers,  demand  for 
education.  The  public  income  in  Mexico  has  suffered  from  a  defective 
system  of  taxation  rather  than  from  want  of  resources.  The  country  is 
rich,  and  with  a  proper  administration  will  be  independent.  There  will 
be  no  lack  of  teachers.  In  spite  of  the  low  wages,  boys  and  girls  of  the 
poor  class  better  themselves  financially  by  teaching,  and  improve  their 
social  standing,  too.  Candidates  will  be  numerous  enough,  but  nearly 
/  all  will  need  financial  help.  The  present  revolution  has  been  a  great 
national  awakener.  The  people  feel  their  ignorance,  and  are  amazed  by 
it.     They  will  clamor  for  schools  for  their  children. 

1.  Public  Revenues 

It  will  not  have  escaped  observation,  throughout  our  study, 
that  the  severest  handicap  on  education  in  Mexico  has  been  lack 
of  funds,  although  Mexico  is  a  country  rich  in  natural  resources, 
and  by  no  means  over-populated.  But  from  the  beginning 
of  its  history  it  has  been  exploited.  Unjust  systems  of  taxation 
and  dishonest  administration  together  have  deprived  the 
public  revenues  of  their  just  share  of  the  country's  products. 
By  the  same  token  inordinate  measures  of  those  products  have 
flowed  into  private  channels. 

In  the  very  beginning  a  current  form  of  favoritism  to  the 
colonists  whom  the  King  of  Spain  especially  wished  to  reward, 
was  to  exempt  their  properties  from  taxation.  Many  large 
estates  thus  came  to  yield  nothing  to  the  public.  In  a  brief 
period  also  the  ecclesiastical  orders  and  the  various  dioceses 
were  among  the  large  property-holders,  their  possessions,  of 
course,  being  likewise  exempt.  In  the  same  way  mines  just 
opened  were  favored,  and  farms  that  had  not  yet,  according 
to  their  owners,  become  productive.  Thus  during  all  the 
colonial  period  the  wealthy  escaped,  and  all  the  burden  of 
raising  revenue  fell  upon  the  poor.  Since  the  establishment  of 
the  Republic  there  has  been  no  great  improvement.  To 
encourage  new  enterprises — factories,  railways,  and  the  like — 
many  corporations  have  been  relieved  of  taxation,  for  long 

86 


periods  of  time.  The  state  legislatures  have  been  usually 
under  the  control  of  the  men  who  own  the  large  landed  estates. 
The  consequence  has  been  that  it  has  been  almost  impossible 
to  secure  the  passage  of  laws  taxing  land.  Through  one 
pretext  or  another — usually  on  the  ground  that  the  land  is 
not  yet  sufficiently  improved  to  produce  a  surplus — the  large 
haciendas  have  been  allowed  to  go  practically  free.  Even 
stamp  acts  and  other  devices  for  producing  internal  revenue 
can  be  evaded  if  there  is  connivance  between  the  local  officers 
and  the  citizens.  It  is  upon  commerce,  upon  the  small  com- 
merce of  the  poor,  especially,  that  the  burden  has  usually  fallen. 

The  poor  of  Mexico  are  very  poor.  It  is  impossible  to 
wring  from  them  large  amounts,  no  matter  how  they  are  taxed. 
Unless  there  is  to  be  a  successful  attempt  at  making  the  wealth 
of  the  country  contribute  to  the  country's  support,  public 
service  in  education  and  elsewhere  will  be  cramped  in  the 
future  as  it  has  been  in  the  past.  The  recent  wars  have 
impoverished  the  whole  country.  Much  property  has  been 
dissipated,  a  great  deal  taken  out  of  the  Republic.  Recovery 
will  be  slow.  Yet  there  is  reason  to  beHeve  that  the  people 
of  Mexico  have  at  last  learned  by  experience.  All  signs  point 
to  a  readjustment  in  this  matter  of  taxation,  once  peace  is 
re-established. 

There  is  every  reason  to  expect  that  with  such  a  readjust- 
ment, and  with  time  given  for  the  rehabilitation  of  industry, 
revenue  for  the  needs  of  the  people  will  be  ample.  In  the 
interval,  however,  it  is  evident  that  outside  financial  help  will 
be  not  only  welcome,  but  most  fruitful  and  efficient. 

2.  The  Supply  of  Public  School  Teachers 

It  has  already  been  brought  out  that  in  Mexico  state  normal 
schools  must  find  their  students  among  the  poor.  These 
schools  have  been  subjected  to  a  sort  of  double  pressure.  On 
one  hand  the  Church  influence  has  been  thrown  against  them. 
Many  of  their  teachers  have  been  extreme  liberals.  It  is 
difficult  in  that  country  to  cherish  such  sentiments  and  remain 
in  good  standing  as  a  Catholic.  Often  these  teachers  solve 
the  problem  by  breaking  with  the  Church  entirely.  They  are 
thereupon  ranked  as  skeptics,  infidels,  and  even  atheists,  and 

87 


parents  are  warned  against  sending  their  sons  and  daughters 
to  the  schools  in  which  such  men  teach.  So  heavy  is  the 
pressure  that  the  young  people  who  persist  in  going  are  virtually 
excommunicated.  Naturally  in  that  case  they  follow  the 
example  of  their  teachers,  and  become  pronounced  unbelievers. 
They  do  this  not  so  much  out  of  choice,  as  making  a  virtue  of 
necessity.  It  is  a  necessity  that  seems  peculiarly  deplorable  in 
the  case  of  the  young  women.  * 

On  another  side  is  the  social  pressure.  People  who  feel 
themselves  to  be  of  the  "upper  class"  do  not  like  to  associate 
with  their  inferiors.  The  state  normal  schools,  like  the  public 
primary  schools,  have  appealed  especially  to  the  poor,  the 
people  who  are  unable  financially  to  take  advantage  of  private 
institutions.  This  has  made  a  sort  of  social  atmosphere,  the 
tendency  of  which  is  to  restrict  the  attendance  upon  state 
normals  to  representatives  of  families  that  have  virtually  no 
social  standing.  Yet  the  instinctive  attitude  of  the  Mexican 
mind  is  one  of  respect  for  teachers.  The  calling  is  honored 
and  for  itself.  And  even  the  slender  income  of  a  public  school 
teacher  is  greater  than  the  usual  earnings  of  the  men  and  women 
in  the  poor  famihes  from  which  these  boys  and  girls  come.  It 
is  clear,  therefore,  that  despite  the  religious  difficulty,  the 
young  women  and  young  men  of  those  families  that  are  at  the 
bottom  of  the  social  scale  will  continue  to  enter  gladly  upon  the 
career  of  teaching.  It  not  only  satisfies  their  intellectual 
cravings  for  an  education,  but  increases  their  income  and, 
ultimately,  improves  their  social  position,  f 

It  would  seem  that  this  so-called  lower  class  affords  material 
as  promising  as  any  other  in  the  Republic.  Indeed,  these  boys 
and  girls  may  be  superior  to  those  of  the  ''better  class."     They 


♦This  is  not  the  case,  however,  in  the  schools  of  Mexico  City.  There  is  no  general  sentiment 
on  the  part  of  Catholics  against  the  normal  schools,  although  these  schools  are  really  non- 
sectarian.  It  must  be  added  that  the  teachers,  particularly  in  the  Normal  School  for  Girls, 
are  almost  invariably  deeply  respectful  toward  all  the  creeds,  and  that  in  recent  years  Catholic 
and  Protestant  girls  have  taken  their  studies  in  the  Normal  Schools  of  Mexico  City  in  a  mutual 
and  constant  relation  of  genuine  cordiality. — E.  A.  C. 

tThis  observation  also  is  not  strictly  true  of  the  schools  in  Mexico  City.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  there  are  in  the  private  schools  boys  and  girls  of  the  richest  families,  with  many  of  the 
middle  class  and  a  few  of  the  poorer.  On  the  contrary  there  are  in  the  public  schools  of  all 
grades,  and  particularly  in  the  preparatory  school  and  in  the  Normal  School  for  Girls,  rep- 
resentatives of  all  three  classes.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the  Normal  School  for  Boys  has 
practically  only  very  poor  students. — E.  A.  C. 


possess  more  physical  stamina,  as  a  rule,  a  more  vigorous  will, 
and  a  more  open  mind.  They  have  fewer  prejudices  of  which 
to  divest  themselves,  and  have  all  to  gain  and  nothing  to 
lose  by  devoting  themselves  whole-heartedly  to  their  chosen 
calling.  Needless  to  add,  the  supply  of  them  is  inexhaustible. 
Mexico  will  never  want  for  teachers,  if  only  provision  can  be 
made  for  their  proper  training. 

3.  The  Demand  for  Education 

It  may  be  assumed  that  Mexico  is  awake  today  as  never 
before.  The  rapid  shifting  about  of  the  men  in  the  armies — 
followed  by  numerous  women  and  children — has  itself  broken 
up  provinciality  and  given  large  segments  of  Mexico's  popula- 
tion their  first  conception  of  their  own  country,  and  of  the 
world  at  large.  Telegraphic  communication  has  become  a 
commonplace.  It  has  brought  the  people  of  all  parts  of 
Mexico  into  touch  with  the  whole  Repubhc,  and  even  with  the 
world  beyond.  Newspapers  have  gone  everywhere,  loaded  \ 
with  startling  and  critical  news.  The  man  that  could  not  read  ^ 
has  felt  himself  set  aside,  ignored.  He  sees  himself  falling 
behind  in  the  race.  He  has  never  thought  of  this  matter  that 
way  before.  He  bums  with  longing  and  regret.  He  promises 
himself  that  his  children  shall  never  be  humiliated  and  degraded 
as  he  has  been.  The  school  system  of  Mexico  has  lately  been 
interrupted  and  held  in  abeyance,  but  the  whole  nation  has 
been  going  to  the  school  of  experience.  They  have  reached 
the  hopeful  stage  of  seeing  and  confessing  their  ignorance.     / 

There  will  now,  therefore,  be  a  new  and  mighty  demand  for  \ 
education.  The  transition  is  as  radical  as  that  which  took 
place  in  China  when  the  old  order  of  training  was  set  aside  in 
favor  of  ''Western"  learning.  China  exchanged  one  kind  of 
education  for  another.  Mexico  will  change  want  of  education 
for  education,  contented  ignorance  for  an  imperious  thirst  for 
the  things  of  the  mind.  She  is  the  victim  today  of  many  ills 
of  many  kinds.  At  least  she  is  convinced  that  she  has  been 
victimized  chiefly  because  she  is  ignorant.  The  awakening  is 
a  tremendous  one.  She  is  getting  ready  for  that  eternal 
vigilance  v/hich  is  the  price  of  liberty.  For  a  hundred  years 
she  has   tried   somnolence   and   indifference.     Now  she   will 


watch,  and  to  watch  she  must  have  her  mind's  eyes  opened  and 
trained. 

There  have  been,  and  are,  many  diagnosticians  of  Mexico's 
troubles,  each  with  a  remedy.  The  American  people  have  of 
late  shown  much  uneasiness  under  their  sense  of  responsibility. 
The  Monroe  Doctrine  has  kept  them  awake  at  night.  But 
they  see  that  nearly  all  of  the  proposed  ways  of  ''intervening" 
would  do  harm  and  not  good.  Outsiders  had  better  keep  out 
of  family  jars.  It  is  time  that  those  who  would  really  help 
the  Mexican  people  should  consider  the  matter  of  helping  them 
to  educate  their  children.  That,  if  done  in  the  right  spirit- 
that  is,  without  sectarianism  or  partisanship — is  an  'Interven- 
tion" that  Mexico  will  welcome.  And  it  will  do  good  and 
not  harm. 


90 


AFTERWORD 

WHAT,  then,  is  the  way  out?     What  is  the  duty  of 
the   Mexican   people?     And   what   is   the   duty   of 
Americans  as  their  neighbors?     It  would  be  foolish 
indeed  to  propose,  especially  at  this  time,  a  solution  of  the 
Mexican  problem,  but  it  is  not  foolish  to  try  to  learn  what 
their  history  teaches  us  of  their  needs. 

The  Mexican  thinks  he  wants  only  liberty  and  land,  but 
what  he  really  needs  is  education.  Though  he  has  been  strug- 
gling for  liberty  for  a  hundred  years,  he  has  failed  because  he 
lacked  intelligence  and  character.  Universal  education  is  the 
great  need  of  Mexico.  It  is  the  first,  last,  and  only  remedy 
for  her  national  disease — the  only  hope  for  the  Mexican 
Repubhc. 

Does  the  proposal  of  universal  education  for  Mexico  seem 
absurd?  W^hy  is  it  more  absurd  than  the  proposal  to  educate 
the  Cuban,  the  Porto  Rican,  or  the  Filipino?  It  should  not  be 
more  hopeless  than  to  educate  the  Indian  or  the  negro.  No 
doubt  it  will  require  a  long  time  even  to  start  the  necessary 
schools;  it  will  certainly  be  the  work  of  generations  to  qualify 
these  thirteen  million  ignorant  people  for  intelligent  citizenship. 
But  education  offers  the  only  method  of  making  men  fit  to  be  y 
free.*  ^ 

Believing,  then,  that  the  Mexico  of  the  future  must  be 
built  by  its  people,  and  that  they  have  little  to  contribute  to 
its  structure  but  their  native  intellectual  and  spiritual  abilities, 
I  have  sought  to  get  a  just  estimate  of  them  from  those  who 
know  them  best. 

A  native  Mexican  who  was  educated  in  Massachusetts  and 
who  has  taught  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  in  his  own 
country,  where  he  was  head  of  a  large  college  and  superintendent 
of  public  schools  of  a  State,  assures  me  that  the  Mexican  peon 
is  the  equal  intellectually  of  the  Italian,  the  Hungarian,  or  any 


*Some  paragraphs  are  used  here  from  an  article  by  Charles  W.  Dabney  in  the  Outlook  for 
March  22,  1916. 

91 


of  the  other  immigrants  among  us,  and  fully  as  capable  of  self- 
government.  A  Protestant  missionary  teacher,  who  spent 
thirty  years  in  Mexico  at  the  head  of  schools,  and  is  now  con- 
nected with  one  of  our  universities,  testifies  that  the  Mexican 
. .  peon  has  all  the  qualities  for  citizenship  in  a  republic,  if  he  were 
only  educated  and  given  a  place  on  the  land.  The  super- 
intendent of  one  of  the  large  petroleum  companies  of  Mexico, 
who  has  used  the  peon  men  for  ten  years,  tells  me  that  they  are 
as  teachable,  industrious,  faithful,  and  loyal  mechanics  and 
laborers  as  any  men  he  has  ever  employed.  The  president  of 
the  largest  Mexican  railway  system,  who  has  employed  these 
people  for  twenty  years — as  track  laborers,  shop  mechanics, 
locomotive-drivers,  and  conductors,  as  well  as  depot  agents  and 
clerks — is  warm  in  his  praise  of  the  common  Mexican,  who,  he 
declares,  needs  only  an  education  and  a  chance.  Many  other 
witnesses  might  be  cited  to  the  same  effect.  In  the  course  of  a 
wide  inquiry  into  the  character  of  these  people,  the  only  pes- 
simists found  were  among  business  and  professional  men  in 
Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California,  who  have  come  in  contact 
with  the  worst  types  of  Mexicans — the  poor  laborer  seeking 
work,  the  border  trader,  usually  a  smuggler,  or  the  cattle  thief 
and  bandit.  Those  who  know  the  common  Mexican  best  and 
in  his  normal  surroundings,  believe  him  to  have  the  making 
of  a  man  and  a  citizen. 


In   addition   to   elementary   education   and   training   for 
citizenship,  Mexicans,  of  all  men,  need  industrial  and  agri- 
N^^    cultural    education.    Although    Father    Hidalgo    started    his 
revolution  in  protest  against  interference  with  his  industrial 
schools  for  the  people,  schools  of  this  type  have  made  little 
,^^ progress.     But  they  are  the  great  need.    Agriculture  and  the 
'C   mechanic  arts  in  Mexico  are  very  primitive.     The  rich  man 
I    objects  to  manual  labor  as  beneath  his  dignity.     Technical  and 
industrial   schools   are   needed   to   overcome   this   sentiment. 
And  practically  nothing  has  been  done  for  agricultural  educa- 
tion.    In  view  of  the  richness  of  the  soil,  the  wealth  of  other 
resources,  and  the  need  of  men  to  develop  them,  industrial  and 
agricultural  education  would  seem  to  be  one  of  the  most 
important  tasks  before  the  Mexican  people. 

92 


is 


Yet  Mexico  has  no  college  or  university  of  the  modem  type. 
She  needs  intelligent  leaders,  but  she  has  no  institution  to  train 
them.  One  of  the  best  possible  things,  therefore,  that  could 
be  done  in  Mexico,  while  helping  her  to  start  her  elementary, 
agricultural,  and  industrial  schools,  would  be  to  give  her  an 
independent  college  of  the  type  of  Robert  College  of  Con- 
stantinople. By  independent,  I  mean  a  college  on  a  foundation 
approved  by  the  people  and  the  friends  of  Mexico,  but  inde- 
pendent of  both  Church  and  State  control. 

The  advantages  that  would  accrue  to  Mexico  from  a  college 
of  such  a  character  are  too  evident  to  need  argument.  Its 
influence  on  education,  on  politics,  on  industry,  and  on  morals 
would  be  all  the  greater  because  of  its  independence.  Only 
such  an  institution  would  command  the  support  of  all  classes 
and  parties.  Only  such  an  institution  can  train  among  the 
Mexicans  the  wise,  unselfish,  and  independent  leaders  the 
people  need. 

We  have  pledged  ourselves  to  lead  the  other  nations  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere  in  making  democracy  a  workable  principle 
of  government.  At  our  door  we  have  fifteen  millions  of  people 
who,  through  ignorance  and  the  habits  that  come  of  ignorance, 
have  failed  to  differentiate  liberty  from  license  and  have  sub- 
ordinated federalism  to  factionalism.  Mexico  can  not  have  a 
free  and  ordered  government  while  the  great  masses  of  her 
people  are  illiterate.  A  democracy  must  be  based  on  an 
organized  public  opinion,  and  such  a  public  opinion  is  possible 
only  through  a  system  of  education  which,  while  it  trains  in 
the  industrial  arts,  also  disciplines  the  character  and  develops 
leaders  of  scope  and  vision.  The  best  aid  one  can  give  a  man 
is  to  help  him  help  himself.  The  best  thing  the  American  ^ 
people  can  do  for  the  Mexican  people  is  to  help  them  to  educate  / 
themselves. 

CHARLES  WILLIAM  DABNEY. 


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